Return to Sunnydale
by Mario Quade
Summary: Angel and Cordelia return to Sunnydale to protect Connor from the many enemies that are after him.
1. Prologue

**What would have happened if the Groosalugg had not shown up at the end of "Waiting in the Wings" and Angel would have gotten out his decleration of love? How would it have changed the outcome of coming events?**

**Disclaimer: Most of the characters, an all the major characters, were created by Joss Wheadon and the other Buffyverse writers. The copyright on them is owned by their creators and the respective production studios.**

* * *

Giles sat in his living room, drinking a nice cup of tea while reading a new edition on the crimes of some 17th century sorcerer, who had been banished into some pocket dimension for those. He had to shake his head at some of the parts of the tale. Not only because they were so unbelievable that he was a bit ashamed for a Watcher to have written this, but the claim that some man in a blue box, wearing a rainbow coloured costume, was somehow responsible for the sorcerer meeting his end, was probably the most laughable part of it all. It wasn't the first time Giles had discovered a mention of some eccentric English man travelling in a blue box in one of these books, but this was the most laughable description of the man he had ever read up until now.

The weirdness of it all had nearly caused him to slam the book shut and watch television instead. He knew the other Watchers frowned upon it, a lot of them didn't even own a television set. Giles himself used to look down onto the idea of spending his free time watching television as well, but after losing one's jobs there was only so much free time one could have without finally indulging himself into the world of moving pictures.

After reading through another particularly ludicrous part, he just groaned and got up. Taking his tea with him, he decided to go outside for a moment. It was a beautiful early spring day in Bath, the town he was currently residing in. Just as he was about to leave the room, his phone rang. Worried, Giles looked at his watch. It was just past ten, meaning it was the middle of the night in Sunnydale, but that didn't really matter, considering it's location on a hellmouth.

Hoping that it was just the Council, he picked up the phone. "Rupert Giles," he answered.

"Hello, Giles, Cordelia here," replied a female, American voice.

"Cordelia," Giles asked slowly before realising who it was. "Cordelia," he repeated, now sounding kind of happy. "This is a surprise."

"I know," she answered, trying to sound happy as well, but failing at it.

"To what do I owe this pleasure. I mean, it's the middle of the night in California right now. You still live in Los Angeles, right?"

Cordelia laughed at this. "Yes, I still live in Los Angeles and I still work together with Angel, nothing much changed in that regard," she said.

Giles nodded, even though he knew that she couldn't see him. He wondered what had changed in her life since he last heard of her. He had not talked to Cordelia since she had left Sunnydale nearly three years ago, and the last time he had seen Angel was at Joyce's funeral last year and he had not really talked to him back then. He really had no idea how things were in Los Angeles at the moment, even less than how things were back in Sunnydale.

"Actually, some things have changed, rather dramatically I might add," Cordelia suddenly said, sparking Giles's interest.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, and that's partially why I called you, especially at this time. You see, there's this prophecy that Wes is working on. He doesn't know that I know that he has already translated it. And, you see, I believe there to be something very fishy about the whole thing."

"How so," Giles asked, wondering what kind of explanation Cordelia would give.

"It lines up too perfectly. I mean, I know that most prophecies are vague or just vague enough to leave some room for interpretation because nobody can really predict the future completely accurate. But with this one, everything, and I mean everything, seems to line up just a little bit too well. And that Wolfram & Hart are clearly dabbling in this matter as well, helping things along, is not really easing my suspicion about this."

Giles was surprised. This was actually a very thoughtful and reasonable argument for taking a closer look at a prophecy. "Why do you not tell Wesley? I'm certain that he would understand..."

"No," Cordelia interrupted. "Giles, like I said, a lot of things happened here. The prophecy is kinda... personal. And right now Wesley is a bit paranoid, and I think being the only single in the group causes him to feel left out."

Giles was a bit surprised about this argument. Not about the paranoid part or how the former would feel left out because he was the only single. What he was surprised about, was Wesley being the only single. Did that mean that Angel had a girlfriend? Or did he and Buffy somehow had entered a long distance relationship? Considering how little contact he and Buffy sadly had these days, he supposed it was a possibility.

"Giles, you still there," Cordelia asked when Giles remained quiet for too long.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that. Now, Cordelia, if you really believe the prophecy to be false, and you do not want Wesley to take a second look at it, I really don't know how I might be able to help you."

"You could take a look at it yourself," Cordelia said. "I might no longer be rich, but Angel and I would pay for your flight here, and I've got a couch you could sleep on for a night or two, however long it would take for you to check up on this thing," she offered.

Giles was surprised. "Cordelia, I..."

"Please, Giles," Cordelia begged. "This is important, and I mean really important."

Giles sighed. Something about Cordelia's voice told him that this was personal for her, and the truth was that he had to go to California in a few days anyway for Anya and Xander's wedding. "Alright, but maybe I should get a hotel anyway."

"If you want to. I won't have a problem with you staying here, and..." There was a pause that surprised Giles, until he remembered that Cordelia must have had a boyfriend or something even more serious if Wesley was the sole single in their group. She was probably checking up with him if it was okay for Giles to stay at their place. "Dennis says he's okay with it as well."

"And Dennis would be...?"

"My housemate. But don't worry, you won't see him," Cordelia explained, with a slight tease in her voice.

Giles sighed again. "Okay, I'll try to take the next possible flight to Los Angeles."

"Good. Call me if you get here," Cordelia replied and then hung up.

Giles shook his head, and wrote down the number from which she had called, assuming that it had been her home number. Then he headed upstairs to his bedroom, ready to pack. This day was going down a completely different route than he had expected.


	2. The Miracle Child

**There's a lot of exposition in this chapter about Conner's heritage. I decided to keep it in since Giles had to be brought up to speed and I thought it functioned as a nice way to bring the reader up to speed as well. Enjoy.**

* * *

Giles paid the cab driver and walked up to Cordelia's apartment. It was late in the afternoon and the sun had started to set. He had booked himself the first available flight from Bristol to LAX, leading to him not really having had the most comfortable seat on the plane. At first he had considered turning around and taking a later flight, but he had remembered how Cordelia had sounded and decided that this was urgent business. Plus, the faster he got to California the faster he could find out if Angel and Buffy had somehow gotten back together.

He knocked on the door a couple of times until it opened. He had thought he heard a baby crying from the inside, and at first he had dismissed that thought before reminding himself that Cordelia actually could be a mother at this point. Then the door opened and he saw the young woman standing in front of him with a baby in her arms. The baby was already a surprise enough, but Cordelia's appearance was one as well. Back in Sunnydale she always knew how to dress, always followed or set the newest fashion trends. Now she looked, for a lack of a better term, completely normal. She wore sweatpants and a matching t-shirt, very little to no make-up and her hair was way shorter than before.

"Hello, Giles, come in," she offered and stepped aside. "Where's your luggage or is that all," she asked, seeing as he was only carrying one bag.

"Oh, no," Giles answered distracted. She definitely had a nice place to live. Either Angel really paid her well or she had found herself a sugar daddy. "There's a large trunk on the pavement. I'll get it," he said after putting down his bag.

"No, I'll get it. Here, take Connor," Cordelia said and handed him the baby, who couldn't have been more than three or four months old.

"The trunk is really heavy," Giles started to protest, but Cordelia was already out of the door.

"Don't worry about me. I've been working out," she said and disappeared.

Giles sighed and took a look at the baby, who was seemingly named Connor. Looking at the small boy he noticed that he looked nothing like Cordelia. He had blond hair and blue eyes while Cordelia had brown hair and hazel eyes. Maybe his father was blond, Giles mused until he noticed the boy's brow. It was not that clearly visible yet but something about it seemed familiar.

"Uff, are you sure you've managed to get all your books through customs," Cordelia joked as she hauled the trunk into her living room.

Giles really was surprised at her being able to bring the trunk up here on her own. He knew that he probably would have been more out of breath than she was right now. "Actually I've only brought along the most essentials," he replied. "I had hoped that I might give Anya a call and get her to sent me some of my other books here from Sunnydale."

Cordelia grimaced. "Might not be such a good idea," she replied. Then her gaze shifted away from Giles, who wanted to ask her why, and a second later she suddenly asked him if he wanted a coffee or if he preferred tea.

"Ehm, tea," he answered.

"Earl Grey," Cordelia asked as she walked over to him and took Connor out of his arms.

"I won't complain," Giles replied. He thought he would see Cordelia walk to her kitchen, but instead she walked to the couch and invited him to sit next to her. Wondering why she had asked him what to drink he was startled when he heard water heating up in the kitchen. He suddenly remembered that Cordelia did not live alone and deduced that her flatmate must be the one currently in the kitchen.

"Now, Giles, I'm really, really grateful for you to have come, but there's one thing you'll have to swear."

"Okay," Giles slowly replied.

"You have to swear that you'll never tell anyone what I'm going to tell you now, especially not the Watcher's Council."

"Why?" Giles grew concerned.

"Giles," Cordelia insisted.

He sighed and then swore that he was not going to tell anyone. Before Cordelia could say anything more a cup of tea was floating towards them, causing Giles's facial expression turn into that of a deer in headlights.

"Thanks Dennis," Cordelia said warmly and then smiled at Giles, a clear sparkle of mischief in her eyes. "I told you, you wouldn't see him."

"He's a ghost," Giles slowly realised,

Cordelia nodded. "Yeah, why do you think I can afford a place like this? Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, the prophecy. I think I should start at the beginning."

"Generally a good idea," Giles noted, still surprised that Cordelia Chase of all people would put up with a ghost for a flatmate.

She laughed slightly before talking to Connor. "I haven't introduced you two, haven't I? Connor, meet Giles, Giles meet Connor," she said and took Connor's little arm and waved it slightly.

Somehow, Giles felt his doubts about Cordelia being the boy's mother being flushed away. Her expressions, her actions, all screamed 'mother' to him. "Hello," he said with a smile on his face.

"It all started nearly two years ago when Wolfram & Hart, you know who they are?"

"An evil law firm."

"Yes. Their senior partners are demons who feed of bad emotions and want to bring about the apocalypse," Cordelia explained. "Anyway, Wolfram & Hart tried to compromise Angel by resurrecting Darla, his sire. And it nearly worked."

"What?"

"You remember Angel staking her to save Buffy five years ago?"

Giles nodded slowly.

"Wolfram & Hart brought her back as a human, knowing that she was suffering from syphilis and was going to die if she stayed human."

"And they hoped that Angel would sire her," Giles breathed out.

Cordelia confirmed this with a nod. "He of course didn't, but he became obsessed with saving her, and when the lawyers got in Drusilla to sire her, which she of course did, he became really depressed and fired all of us."

"What," shot it out of Giles, which caused Connor to cry.

"Shh, everything's okay. Uncle Giles didn't mean to scare you," Cordelia told Connor.

"Of course not," Giles added. "I was just, ahm..."

"Surprised," Cordelia offered. Giles took it. "Imagine how we felt back then. Anyway, he later got back to us and asked us to work for us instead, making Wesley the new boss of Angel Investigations."

Now Giles understood why Cordelia had been on guard about confronting Wesley. He was her boss now and she didn't want to get fired.

"Anyway, Angel hadn't told us why he came back or what caused his, as he called it, epiphany until Darla came back last fall. Nine months pregnant."

"But that's impossible," Giles argued. "Vampires can't..."

"...get pregnant. I know that. Still, she was, and if you need any more evidence," Cordelia said and turned around Connor, so that the baby faced Giles.

Giles's eyes got wide. "He is..."

"The son of two vampires," Cordelia finished.

"Two?"

"Angel and Darla."

"Angel," Giles asked shocked. He finally recognised the brow of the little boy as Angel's. "But that's..."

"What? Impossible? Incredible? I'd agree with both," Cordelia interjected. "And before you ask, Connor is completely normal, at least according to the doctors."

"Normal?"

"Yes, as in human. According to his doctors he's a completely normal four months old."

Now this was really incredible in Giles's mind. "How?"

Cordelia shrugged. "We don't know. But that is part of the prophecies. And yes, there are several about him."

"Including the one you think is false," Giles asked.

"Yes," confirmed Cordelia as a cup of coffee floated onto the couch table. "Thanks, Dennis," she said to the phantom and then turned her attention back to the Watcher. "Back to Connor. Since he's human he obviously has a soul and towards the end of the pregnancy it acted as a surrogate soul for Darla as well."

"Incredible," Giles breathed but didn't say any more since he wanted Cordelia to get to the point. He didn't urge her to go on since she was giving him actual pivotal information, but the faster she was done explaining everything the faster he could get to work.

"When he was about to be born Darla staked herself, knowing that she could never love her son. Just that you won't ask what happened to her," Cordelia explained.

Giles nodded slowly and took a sip of his tea. "This is... I don't even really know what to say," Giles admitted. This was all a bit surprise to him and hard to take in. Suddenly Giles remembered something. "So Angel slept with Darla?"

"Yes," Cordelia answered, not sure where Giles wanted to go with this.

"And he didn't lose his soul?"

"Nope," Cordelia answered and then smiled. "It seems that it's not the act itself that causes perfect happiness, but that it is important with whom he does it and what he feels for that person," she explained.

Giles nodded. "That actually makes a lot of sense," he conceded. He then took off his glasses and cleaned them. Still, knowing that two vampires had created a child, who then happened to be perfectly human, was a great revelation. "I can see now why you wouldn't want me to involve the Council in this," he admitted. He knew that the Council would try to get their hands on the baby to experiment on him, maybe even kill him simply because of what he was or who his parents were.

"Thanks," Cordelia smiled warmly. "The last thing we need is another big organisation to be after Connor."

"Another?"

"Wolfram & Hart."

"Ah," Giles commented. "And the prophecy?"

"Yes. Wes has been working on it for some time now. He claims that he still hasn't translated it completely, but I've seen his notes, and he has."

"What does it say?"

Cordelia didn't answer.

"What does it say," Giles repeated.

"The father will kill the son," Cordelia finally answered with a small voice.

Giles was shocked.

"And all the signs are seemingly coming true. The final one being Angel drinking Connor's blood," Cordelia explained.

"Is that why he's here," Giles asked.

Cordelia nodded. "Yes. I had noticed the change in Angel's behaviour and had Fred, our science gal, check up on his blood. She discovered that somebody had mixed human blood in his pigs blood, and after some more tests was able to determine that it was Connor's blood."

"Why would somebody do that?"

"To get Angel to harm Connor," Cordelia explained. "And the ones behind it seem to be Wolfram & Hart."

"Why though? Why would they want Angel to harm Connor?"

"Because they want him to turn back into Angelus."

Giles gulped. This was bad news indeed. "Don't they realise what this would mean?"

"Not in full extent. They're arrogant enough to believe that they could control him, even after Darla and Drusilla slaughtering a whole room of lawyers together, and as we both know, even together the two are not as dangerous as Angelus on his own."

"Bloody hell," Giles cursed under his breath.

"I know," Cordelia sighed, looking at her watch. "Angel should be here by now."

"Should he really be here, when...," Giles gestured to Connor.

Cordelia sighed. "He won't do anything to Connor. At least I hope. He had been unusually violent the last few days."

"Then he really shouldn't...," Giles tried to argue but he was interrupted by Angel himself.

"If I were to try something, Cordy would kick my ass," he interjected and walked over. "And hello, Giles," he added with a smile.

"Next time, maybe make some noise when you come in through the sewers," Cordelia complained, but she also had a very happy smile on her face that surprised Giles. Just then Angel leaned down and smiled at his son before giving Cordelia a peck on the lips. Out of all the things he had seen or heard within the last half hour, this was the most surprising for the Watcher. "Looks like somebody didn't anticipate this," Cordelia commented when she saw Giles's face.

"Yeah, ahm, well...," the Watcher replied, not really sure what he could say.

"I did say that all but Wesley were in a relationship," Cordelia reminded him.

"Since when does Lorne have a girlfriend," Angel asked before Giles could reply.

Now it was Cordelia's turn to open her mouth and not get an argument out. Rendering Cordelia Chase speechless was a difficult task to succeed it, or at least had been, as Giles remembered. Seeing the smile on Angel's face he noticed that the vampire was both proud of this and that his question was probably more of a tease than anything else. Which prompted him to ask himself since when Angel teased people. "Since when are you two," he found himself asking.

"Actually dating? Since a bit over two weeks," Cordelia replied.

"But according to Lorne and Fred that is simply putting the correct label on what we've previously called friendship," Angel added with a smile that told Giles that he clearly was in love with the young woman sitting on the couch, holding his son. This also explained why Cordelia gave him the impression of being Connor's mother – she was. Maybe not by blood, but something that mattered even more – heart.

"And Lorne is...," Giles found himself asking.

"An empath demon that can read your aura when you sing," Angel explained as he accepted a cup of coffee from Dennis. After he thanked the phantom he sank down on the couch next to Cordelia, who was sitting between him and Giles.

"You work together with a demon?"

The two members of the AI team laughed. "Don't worry. Lorne is the type of guy who really couldn't harm a fly," Angel assured him, while Giles asked himself if he had ever seen Angel laugh before.

"He used to have a karaoke bar for demons and had a spell on it that prevented violence," Cordelia explained.

Giles nodded, noting how comfortable the two sat together, making him question the claim that they had only been together for two weeks. Maybe this Lorne and Fred had been right and the two only had to change the label of their relationship, he thought. He also tried to remember if he had ever seen Angel and Buffy sitting together like this, but he was coming up blank.

"Did Cordelia tell you everything," Angel asked.

Giles nodded and gave a cliff-version of what the former cheerleader had told him, which, in turn, caused Angel to nod.

"Where have you been," asked Cordelia afterwards.

Angel sighed. "I followed Wesley."

"Why," asked his girlfriend, which was a weird term for Cordelia in relations to Angel in Giles's mind. For him, considering Angel having romantic feelings for anyone but Buffy was a foreign concept, but here he was, sitting in Cordelia's living room, with Angel sitting next to her, having his arm lazily wrapped around her shoulder and her carrying his son in her arms, the two clearly being happy with one another. They actually looked like a normal family at that moment.

"You know how paranoid he had been in recent weeks," the vampire asked and Cordelia nodded in response. "I followed him to figure out if he had been up to something, and he has."

"Don't keep us hanging, champ," Cordelia more or less ordered.

"I saw him meet with Holtz," Angel admitted, letting his head sink.

"Holtz," asked both Giles and Cordelia, only for different reasons. Cordelia's voice was filled with shock while Giles wanted to know who Holtz war.

Angel looked at the Watcher. "Have you ever heard of a famous 18th century vampire hunter by the name of Daniel Holtz?"

Giles nodded. "Of course. No other normal man has ever killed as many vampires. His headcount rivals that of some Slayers."

Angel nodded. "He has hunted me and Darla after I... Angelus killed his family," he added and Cordelia grabbed his hand, squeezing it for emotional support. "And he has somehow found a way from the 18th into the 21st century."

Giles looked at Angel in shock. "What? How?"

Angel shrugged. "We don't know. All I know is that he's out for revenge."

"And Wesley met with him," Giles asked and Angel nodded. The Watcher sighed, rubbing his hands over his face before taking his glasses off to clean them once more. "Any idea what they talked about?"

The vampire sighed once again. "I had to hide away. Holtz has an entire gang working for him, all of them training to be vampire hunters, and I didn't really want to get caught by them, but from the little bit I managed to pick up they were talking about getting Connor away from me."

"But we already did," Cordelia interjected. "I mean, he's going to stay here until you're back to normal."

"But if Angel would really want to harm Connor...," Giles objected.

"I'd never let that happen," Cordelia argued.

"How would you stop him?"

"When I said that she'd kick my ass, I meant it," Angel said.

Giles looked at him questioningly, causing Cordelia to tell him how and why she was turned into a half-demon. "The trunk," Giles realised.

Cordelia nodded and smiled. "Yes. And I know how to fight and I've the strength to at least hold Angel off," she assured the Watcher.

Giles himself looked at Cordelia with a mixture of awe and admiration. This woman, whom he had known as a selfish teenager had given up humanity to continue to fight against evil. Of course that had entailed staying with the man she loved, but it was still a very high price to pay. When he remembered her time in high school he couldn't even imagine her being willing to raise another woman's child as long as the father wasn't some rich guy who's money she wanted. And now here she was, sitting in front of him, holding a child in her arms that wasn't her own but that she loved as her own, with Angel of all people as her boyfriend, and being a devoted warrior in their war against the forces of darkness.

"So what now," Giles asked.

"I don't know," Angel answered. "Before I thought we could reason with Wesley, but now I honestly don't know."

"Maybe we still can," Cordelia suggested hopefully.

"I know you're big on second chances, Cordy, but...," Angel let the thought trail off.

Giles noted how depressed the two were. Which wasn't really surprising, he reminded himself, given that a man they thought of as a friend was conspiring with an enemy to take away their child.

"Rupert, have you ever heard of a demon named Sahjhan," Angel suddenly asked.

"No. Why?"

"When I confronted Lilah, one of the lawyers at Wolfram & Hart, he showed up. He wasn't too happy about the two of us talking and accused her of conspiring with the enemy."

"Do you believe that he's involved with Holtz or anything Connor related," Giles asked.

Angel shrugged. "I don't know, but I definitely won't rule it out. And even if not, he seems to be a new player in town. Considering him feeling comfortable enough to attempt to give Lilah orders, I don't want to take him too lightly."

"Understandable," Giles replied. "I'll try to look him up. And if he doesn't have anything to do with Connor he might be a good cover story for me to tell the Council."

Both Angel and Cordelia smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks Giles, you've got no idea how much this means to us," Cordelia told him.

"Especially after...," Angel began but didn't finish. The look on his face told Giles enough. The vampire had feared that Giles would refuse to help after what he had done to him when he had been Angelus.

The Watcher wasn't that comfortable with the topic either, and helping Angel alone wasn't really high in his list of priorities, despite knowing that Angel wasn't really responsible for what happened to Jennifer. But this wasn't just about Angel, it was also about Cordelia and about the small boy in her arms, who was just an innocent little baby.

The uncomfortable silence was broken when Angel announced that he was going back to the hotel. "I just hope that Wesley won't figure out where I was," he said sadly, as he gave Cordelia peck on her lips and hesitated to give his son a kiss before simply pulling away and saying goodbye to Giles and Dennis.

"This is all really hard on him, you know," Cordelia said once Angel had disappeared. She looked quite sad herself, Giles thought. This whole situation was putting a strain on the new couple and he wished there was something he could say or do to make it better right now. "I'm going to feed Connor and then put him to bed," she announced and got off the couch.

Giles looked after her and then let his eyes wander around the room. There were some baby toys lying on the floor that he hadn't noticed at first, but their present didn't surprise him. He noticed that there weren't many pictures in the room. None of her parents or of her friends from Sunnydale. The most prominent picture showed her and Angel with Connor. If he had noticed it the moment he had entered, he wouldn't have been as surprised as he had been when he had seen the two together in the flesh. Then again, he had been a bit pre-occupied with suddenly having Connor in his arms and he probably would've been just as surprised seeing the picture as seeing them together in real life.

Shaking his head he finally decided to get some of his books out of trunk and to start checking up on this Sahjhan demon. He had just gotten three different basic demon encyclopedias out when Cordelia reappeared, without Connor but with a file in her hands instead. "Here, I photographed Wesley's notes last night in case you wanted to take a look," she said and handed the file to him.

Giles nodded and thanked her. "But it would be better if I could take a look at it myself," he added.

"Maybe tonight once Wesley has gone home," she suggested, and Giles agreed to the plan. "Need any help with the research?"

Giles was again surprised. Back in the day Cordelia always had ran away from having to go through his old books. "Well, it wouldn't hurt. Why don't you go through these," he pointed at the three books he had put on the table, "while I take a look at these photos?"

Cordelia nodded and sat down on the armchair. "I hate this part," she said, half-jokingly.

Giles smiled. "Glad to see that some things never change."

"Hey, not everybody can be a bookworm like you Watcher guys. Even Angel doesn't read as much as you do," Cordelia replied, a big teasing smile on her face.

"Guess you're right," responded Giles and started to look at the photos. He couldn't really find anything wrong with the prophecy based on this and hoped that looking at the real thing could give him some answers. As he looked up, he saw Cordelia in deep concentration. For her sake he hoped that the prophecy was false. But even if it wasn't – prophecies didn't always have to come true, he told himself. The fact that they were aware of it and its content meant that they had a real chance of stopping it from coming true. Or at least he hoped that they had that chance.


	3. Escalations

Several hours later Angel had called and told Cordelia that Wesley had gone home. "I think this is your chance," she in turn told Giles and gave him the address of the Hyperion. He took a cab there while she was of course going to stay at home with Connor. Their search for Sahjhan had turned up nothing so far, but Cordelia wanted to keep on looking. Giles correctly guessed that it helped her easing her nerves, but he also knew that she wasn't going to be completely at ease until they had made sure that Angel was no longer a danger to Connor at all and that the little guy was safe.

About half an hour later Giles exited the cab and looked up at the Hyperion Hotel. What was it with Angel and owning big places, he wondered before entering it. He walked down into the lobby where Angel was waiting for him. Next to the vampire stood three other people, who Giles guessed were the other members of Angel Investigations. From the looks of them he had a pretty good idea who was who. Lorne, being a Deathwork demon and thus having green skin, was the most easy to identify. The young brunette standing next to him had to be Fred, since she was the only woman in sight. That left the black man standing protective at her side, who could only be Charles Gunn, the former head of a demon hunter gang as Cordelia had explained to Giles.

Angel made the introductions and then led Giles to Wesley's office. "Any luck on Sahjhan," the vampire asked.

Giles shook his head. "No, but Cordelia's still searching."

"I might have something on him, sweetcakes," Lorne suddenly said.

Giles looked surprised, not just because of the statement, but that Lorne had called them sweetcakes.

"He has a thing for calling people sweets and pastries," Angel quickly explained before asking Lorne if any of his contacts had come forth with useful information.

"Not much, I'm afraid, Angelcakes. But I've heard that he's also known as the Timeshifer," Lorne offered.

"Timeshifter," Angel asked while Giles contemplated this information for a moment before coming to a pretty conclusive realisation. "He's a time traveller," the Watcher said.

"Looks like it. But I don't know what kind of demon he is and how far his time travelling abilities go," Lorne said.

Giles nodded slowly. "Well, that at least solves one mystery," he said, causing the others to look at him puzzled. "Seriously? I thought you were detectives."

Angel was the first to come to the same realisation that Giles had a moment ago. "He brought Holtz into the present."

"Most likely," Giles replied. "Which means that he's out for you, Angel, for whatever reason that might be."

"I never heard of him before today," Angel argued.

"When he really is a time traveller, you two might have met in the future and you kicked his butt, and now he's trying to prevent that by having Holtz kill you buddy," Gunn offered.

Giles nodded in agreement. This seemed to be a pretty good theory based on what they knew. He then let the four team members discuss the Sahjhan issue in the lobby while he entered Wesley's office. A small smile appeared on Giles's face as he took a good look around. Wesley might no longer be a Watcher, but his office was a dead-give away to his past profession. He then walked to Wesley's desk and started to take a good look at the notes on it. He couldn't find the prophecy itself and started to look through the drawers, and in one he actually found it. What he found as well were the Nyazian Scrolls, for which he made a mental note to take a look at them as well later.

The Watcher had stared at the prophecy for a few seconds as he started to feel something tuck at his subconscious. He closed his eyes and forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand. After several minutes of looking the prophecy over and comparing it to Wesley's notes, he had to sigh. It seemed that the prophecy was actually accurate. He knew that he'd have to go over it a few more times and maybe even do some tests until he could be certain, but at first glance there seemed to be nothing wrong with it.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. It was Angel. "Anything," he asked.

Giles sighed. "I'm sorry, but on first look it seems to be genuine," he replied with a sad voice. When he saw Angel's defeated reaction he added, "Which does not have to mean anything. It could still be false and even if it isn't – knowing what it says gives us a chance to prevent it from coming true. Cordelia realising what was going on in time might have already done so."

"You think so," Angel asked hopefully.

"I... I think it is a possibility," Giles replied, not even sounding remotely as reassuring as he had hoped he would.

The defeated expression returned to Angel's face, who simply nodded and walked back into the lobby. Giles watched him. He was walking towards the stairs, most likely to one of the rooms, Giles mused. Angel was living here after all, so it only made sense for him to stay in one of the hotel's apartments. As he watched the vampire leave he felt a small part of his mind rebelling, telling him that Angel had killed Jennifer and that he shouldn't feel sorry for him. Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them, frowning about the sudden feeling of anger towards Angel that was building up in his subconscious.

"I guess you didn't have good news for the big guy, Apple cake," Lorne asked, appearing out of nowhere in the door frame.

Giles sighed and put his glasses back on. "No," he said in response, still confused over his conflicting feelings. "Anything else on Sahjhan," he asked.

"Nope," Lorne replied, smiling. "But I had an idea."

"About Sahjhan?"

"Yes, and the prophecy, munchkin."

"Really?"

"Yes," Lorne said and walked into the office. "If the prophecy is indeed genuine, or at least old enough to appear genuine, couldn't it be that a time traveller has written it?"

Giles opened his mouth to argue against this idea, but no good argument came to mind. Instead he asked himself why he hadn't thought of this as well. Maybe it was too easy an answer, he concluded. "Maybe," he said. "But maybe not. We might never know for certain."

Lorne shrugged. "If we ever manage to find this Sahjhan we could ask him," he suggested.

"I guess so," Giles replied absent-mindedly while looking at the prophecy again.

"If I were you, I wouldn't look too long at it," Lorne suddenly said.

"Why?"

The demon shrugged. "I don't know, but that thing gives me the creeps, honeydunks," he said and then left the office again.

Giles frowned again, continuing to look at the prophecy on the desk in front of him. He made up his mind in only a few seconds and started to look around the office for the ingredients for a simple spell, hoping that Wesley had the most basic ingredients at hand. If his suspicion was correct then this would be the prefect proof that the prophecy was a fake, or made up to become self-fulfilling.

Just as he was at it, Angel came running down the stairs and shouted for everyone to come into the lobby immediately. He seemed rather frantic.

"What is it, man," Gunn asked concerned.

"I just got a call from Dennis," Angel said.

"Why would Dennis call, he can't talk," Fred wondered out loud.

"He called so that I could know what was going on at Cordelia's place," Angel said as he walked over to the weapon's cabinet, raising Giles suspicion that something must have gone horribly wrong.

"What happened," Gunn asked, panic in his voice.

"I could hear several voice shouting and I definitely could make out Lilah being there, asking what the hell had happened, and how she threatened Wesley," Angel told them as he got a sword out of the cabinet.

"Damn," Gunn said and immediately rushed to Angel's side, taking another sword from the cabinet for himself.

"And you two now want to get over there and do what exactly," Giles asked them.

Angel and Gunn glared at him. "One of Wolfram & Hart's SWAT teams has just broken into my girlfriend's apartment, with her and my son being in it. What do you think I'm going to do," Angel shot back. He was about to leave with Gunn on his heels when a middle aged man with brown hair and greying goatee walked into the lobby, smiling and whistling.

"Holtz," Angel spat in disbelieve. Giles couldn't believe that this man had the audacity to walk in here like that as if he owned the place, considering the relationship he and Angel had with one another.

"A wonderful evening, isn't it," he asked. "I just had a phone call, a very interesting one actually. Looks like you're missing a girlfriend and a son," he said. This caused Angel to rush at him and to grab him at the throat, which in turn caused Holtz to smirk. "I always knew that you still were the same violent, bloodthirsty monster you used to be Angelus, regardless of what your friend tried to tell me."

"Where are they," Angel growled. None of the others were stepping in to stop him. Giles knew that he should, but this was a father determined to protect his family, and he highly doubted that he could talk Angel down at this moment.

"I won't tell you, not now anyway," Holtz said. "And especially not like this."

Angel growled again, but let the vampire hunter go.

"Good boy," Holtz said sarcastically. "Now, about your girl and the boy. Here's the deal. You'll let me go now and won't follow me, and believe me, I'll know if you do. If you'll do that, I'll contact you again, and then you'll have the choice."

"Between what," Angel spat.

Holtz's smirk grew wider. "Between me telling you what I know about Sahjhan, and I do know that you're asking around about him, or between me giving you your girl back."

"What about Connor," Giles suddenly asked.

"And who are you," Holtz asked in return.

"What about Connor," Giles repeated forcefully this time. He really couldn't stand this man. Holtz had been a legend among Watchers, some kind of idol for some of them. But this man was an arrogant, vindictive criminal, nothing more.

"The boy will stay with me," Holtz said. "I've no intention of killing him," he then added before Angel could attack him. "I'll have enough pleasure knowing how much pain it causes you to never see your son again. To finally come close to understanding what you had put me through." He straightened his jacket. "It is all up to you, Angelus," he then said and left.

The members of Angel Investigation and Giles were simply left standing in the lobby, looking at the space he had been standing in.

"What now," Fred asked in a small voice, close to breaking. Giles immediately felt sorry for the woman.

Gunn wasted no time and comforted his girlfriend by giving her a quick hug. "We'll go after the bastard and get both of 'em back, right Angel?"

Angel didn't answer. Instead he let his sword fall to the ground and walked over to the couch standing in the centre of the room. The vampire sank onto it, a blank expression on his face. "What if...," he started but Fred wouldn't let him finish that thought. "No, it is not the way out of the prophecy," she said. "There has to be another way. We can't simply give up. You can't give up. I mean, you're Angel, the champion of the helpless. You simply don't give up."

Giles noted that Fred clearly had a hero's crush on Angel. Her faith in the vampire's ability to make things right seemed unwavering.

"Maybe there's a way of tracking Holtz without him noticing it," Giles suggested.

"I doubt it. He hasn't killed as many vampires as he has while being sloppy," Angel replied, getting more and more depressed with every second that went by.

Giles felt sorry for him, and, as always when he didn't really know what to do or say, simply cleaned his glasses again. "I know this might not be important right now, but before you called us all together here, I had an idea regarding the prophecy," he announced.

"What kind of idea," Angel asked.

"I think there's some sort of spell or thrall on it, making the people who read it develop some kind of paranoia."

"Why would you think that," Angel wanted to know.

Giles sighed. "Lorne said something about the prophecy giving him the creeps. Then I remembered that after reading it, I started to doubt that you deserved my help because of Jennifer, and suddenly everything came together. Cordelia mentioned Wesley being paranoid since some time, and she called me after she read the prophecy and Wesley's notes about it, causing her to feel suspicious and paranoid as well," he explained.

"But why did it effect Barbie differently," Gunn asked. "I mean, has it something to do with you guys being British and Angel being Irish?"

"What," Fred asked.

"British and Older British here wanted to turn their back on Angel while Barbie did the exact opposite," Gunn explained.

"I don't know why exactly. It could simply be the emotional connection that her and Angel share," Giles offered.

"But you have another theory," Angel noted.

Giles nodded. "I think her being a seer and half-demon has protected her from being negative affected like Wesley or I were."

Silence fell over the group. Neither one of them knew what to say. This revelation regarding the prophecy was taking a bit of pressure off everyone. Somebody had either made up or seriously tempered with the prophecy to make sure that it came true. Now they were all certain that Angel was not going to kill Connor. But that didn't do them any good, considering that the boy was missing. If there was one positive about any of this than it was that he and Cordelia somehow had managed to evade Wolfram & Hart's SWAT team.

Minutes went by without anyone saying a word, all lost in their own thoughts until Angel suddenly shot up. "What is it, buddy," Gunn asked, but Angel didn't answer. Instead he was staring at a door.

The others followed his glance and couldn't believe their eyes when it suddenly opened and Cordelia exited it, with Connor in her arms, looking extremely exhausted.

Before anybody could say anything, Angel rushed to her, embracing both her and Connor and kissed her intensely. "What happened," he asked once they parted again.

"Let me first go upstairs and change the little guy," Cordelia answered and ran upstairs. A few minutes later she returned downstairs and told the others what had happened. "Wesley came around, he wanted to convince me to let him take Connor away and warned me that Holtz would come around otherwise, taking him by force. We fought until I realised that something was off, and I was nearly too later because just then a smoke grenade was thrown through my window. I ran into the bedroom, got Connor, fought a couple of the SWAT team guys until, I don't know, my demon powers set in full force, I guess. I just glowed and it knocked several of them unconscious, giving me the opportunity to escape. It really scared me and even more so Connor." At this point Cordelia had to pause, tears starting to come forth. Angel immediately laid his arm around his girlfriend, trying to comfort her. "Then I noticed that I was being followed and hid. It was this woman that works with Holtz. I let myself get cornered by her to get some information from her, and then she called up Holtz, telling him that she got me. After that, I overpowered her and took Connor into the sewers. I mean, I didn't want to, what if there were vampires or what else down there, but we needed to get here without being seen."

"No need to apologise or explain yourself, honey," Angel said and kissed her forehead.

Giles simply stood there, nodding along the way. He knew that things were heating up fast and were about to escalate.

"What happened here," Cordelia asked, her head lying on Angel's shoulder.

"Holtz came around. Blackmailed us. Told me that he had you and Connor, and that he was going to call, with me having to decide between you or information about Sahjhan," Angel told her, never letting go of her or Connor, needing the body contact.

"What about Connor?"

"He wanted me to live with the pain of never seeing him again. He promised he wouldn't hurt him, but...," Angel trailed off.

"Bastard," Cordelia said. This time it was her turn to comfort Angel, and she did by nuzzling up to him even closer and handing Connor completely over to him, showing him that they were both there with him, completely unharmed.

"And Old British here found something about the prophecy," Gunn suddenly said, sparking Cordelia's interest.

"Yeah, well, maybe," Giles said and told her of his theory regarding it.

"Can we prove it," Cordelia wanted to know.

Giles shrugged. "There are some basic spells. I was just about to look if Wesley had the necessary ingredients at hand to do it when Angel called us together."

"For what," Cordelia asked her boyfriend, who told her that Dennis had called so that Angel would hear what was going on at her place. "And Wesley's now a prisoner of Wolfram & Hart," Cordelia asked.

"Looks like it," Angel said.

The seer sighed. "I mean, I get that he was intending to betray us, and I don't know if I can trust him right now, but being held prisoner by these people...," she trailed off. The others had to agree with her on this assessment of the situation.

Giles broke up the new uncomfortable silence setting on the group by clearing his throat, getting everyone's attention. "I don't want to be alarmist, but I think we really should decide on our next step and that quickly. Wolfram & Hart are going to continue to come after Connor, and so is Holtz. And both of them seem to be connected to this Sahjhan demon. And I personally wouldn't put it past them to come here, trying to take him by force again."

"You're right," admitted Angel. "What's your plan?"

Giles shrugged. "To be frank, I don't really have one," he admitted and again cleaned his glasses. "I know that we need to figure out who Sahjhan is and to figure out the truth behind this prophecy. But we need time for that and as long as Connor stays in the line of fire, that's something we don't have."

"You're not going to take him away," Cordelia nearly shouted.

Giles sighed. "I don't plan to. And I know that if we get Connor out of here, wherever he goes you two go," he said, looking directly at Angel and Cordelia to make his point clear that he was completely aware of how deep their connection and relationship actually went.

"But where would we take him," Angel asked.

Giles sighed again. "I have no idea. I mean...," he trailed off. "We need to find a way of scaring Wolfram & Hart off and to get rid of Holtz, even if we manage to fight off this Sahjhan."

"And how do you propose to do that miracle, man," Gunn asked.

"I know, it's not an easy task on hand. I've no idea how to get rid of these lawyers, but there might be a way of dealing with Holtz," Giles said uncomfortably.

"I'm not going to like this one, aren't I," Angel asked, and Giles nodded.

"Angel, he's a criminal, who wants to kidnap a baby. He belongs behind bars," Giles said.

"We can't really call the cops on him," Gunn protested.

The Watcher sighed once more. "I know. There's somebody who could make sure that he lands behind bars, only if any of us would ask him, then the US government would be after Connor."

"You want to involve Riley in this," Angel asked disgusted.

"Who," Fred asked.

"Buffy's ex-boyfriend," Cordelia answered and looked at Giles in contempt. "You swore not to tell anybody," she reminded him

"I won't," Giles assured her. "As I said, if I were to ask him for this, he would go after Connor as well, especially because he's Angel's son."

"Then why even bring it up, man," Gunn wanted to know.

Giles didn't answer and instead made eye contact with Angel. They were not great at silence communication, barely knowing each other, but this was something the Watcher knew the vampire would get. And he did.

"You want to involve Buffy in this," Angel sighed.

"What? Why," Cordelia asked.

"If Buffy were to ask Riley to handle Holtz and leave Connor's true nature out of it, he'd do it. I'm certain of it," Giles explain. Well, almost certain, he added in thoughts.

"So what, you're gonna give her a call and simply ask her for help," Cordelia asked, clearly not convinced of this plan.

Giles sighed. "I could, but, well, we are not on best terms right now," he admitted. The looks of the others told him to explain. "Me going to England after her resurrection... I did it for her, to help her stand on her own, make her own decisions, for her and Dawn. I know it was the right thing to do, but I think it hit her pretty hard. She might not take too well to me asking her for a favour. Plus there's the whole thing about Connor being Angel's son and her not knowing about him until now, and Angel and Cordelia being together, of course."

"But wouldn't Connor being Angel's son not make her want to help us? I mean, the two had this star-crossed lover's thing going on," Fred asked and then, seeing Cordelia's hurt expression, adding, "And you two have as well. I mean, I know kye-rumption when I see it and you two definitely have it."

"Kye-rumption," Giles asked.

"When two warriors meet on the field of battle and recognise their mutual fate," Fred explained. "And moira of course."

"Moira?" Giles really was starting to get confused.

"Basically soulmates," Lorne jumped in. "Fred was a prisoner for five years in my home dimension until these guys saved her," he explained.

"And those terms are from your home dimension?"

Lorne nodded. "And these two have them written all over them."

Giles looked at the couple in question and had to agree. He didn't know why, but from what he had seen within the few hours he had been here, he had come to the conclusion that Angel and Cordelia were meant to be. At least the people they were now. He couldn't say the same thing about the two people he knew back in Sunnydale. But they had clearly changed in the last three years. Cordelia had become way more responsible and given up her old vain world view that everything was about money, not to mention accepting the role of motherhood as something natural. And Angel, he was more open, Giles could see that. He didn't longer bottle everything up. He still didn't wear his heart on his sleeve, but at the very least one could get a reading on him now. The Watcher couldn't help but trace it back to the influence they had on each other. "And that could be a big problem," he said, sighing. "I mean, she has been through so much in just the last year. Losing her mother, dying herself then coming back from heaven..."

"Heaven," Angel suddenly asked. "I thought she was in..."

"...hell," Giles finished. "I know. She definitely wanted everybody to believe it, but I had my doubts. And according to Willow she was forced to admit that she was in heaven by some sort of spell that made them all sing their inner thoughts and secrets out loud."

"Sing," Cordelia asked.

"A good thing you two love birds haven't been around for that one," Lorne said.

"Why, because we would have admitted what we felt for each other earlier," Angel asked.

"You can't sing," Lorne and Giles shot back in unison. They locked eyes in surprise and Gunn and Fred burst out laughing.

"It's true," Fred said through her giggles.

"Anyway," Giles suddenly said and continued with his reasoning. "She needs stability, she craves comfort. For her, Angel is still the one. Even while she was with Riley she never really accepted that you two won't find a way to be together one day."

Angel let his head sink. "I know. It was the same for me," he admitted. "Until Buffy died, I never believed there to be another reason for me to live than her."

"That's not true man," Gunn suddenly said. "Or did you forget what happened when Barbie was forced to have never ending visions, ending up chained up to a hospital bed?"

Angel smiled a grim smile. "That was different. I thought I was destined to die, I... No you're right," he suddenly said. "It was the first time I truly knew that Cordy was worth fighting for and that having her in my life was a reason to not wanting to die," he admitted.

Cordelia smiled lovingly and kissed Angel for that statement. "As sweet as this is, we both know that until your little soul searching trip to Sri Lanka, she still was the centre of your life."

Angel sighed. "Yeah, that's what I wanted to say. I, well, it took me a while even after Buffy's death to realise that I had starting to fall in love with Cordelia, and even more to admit it to myself."

"Let alone me," Cordelia added.

Angel laughed. "Yeah. But I'm glad I finally did."

"As much as I hate to interrupt a moment like this, we really should get on with making plans for what to do next," Giles interrupted. "I think we can agree that staying here is having Connor be an open target. And taking him to Cordelia's is out of the question now. We need a safe place to take him."

Angel and Cordelia exchanged some grave looks before sighing. "Sunnyhell here we come," Cordelia suddenly said.

"What," Giles asked perplexed.

"You're right. We need to get Connor out of here. You're also right that wherever he goes, we go. And you're right about us needing Buffy's help to get Riley help us. He might not only be our best shot to get rid of Holtz but Wolfram & Hart as well," Angel admitted.

"Plus, you said yourself that you still had a lot of your old stuff in Sunnydale with Anya. And her being a former demon, she might know something about this Sahjhan demon," Cordelia added, neither one of them sounding too happy about going back to Sunnydale.

Giles sighed. "Okay, it's your call. I'm going to call Buffy and tell her that we're coming. You two better start packing," he told them.

"And what about us," Gunn asked.

"You guys stay here, keep the business running and try to hopefully get Wesley out. God knows what Lilah will do to him to get information out of him," Angel told them as Giles left the room to call Buffy.


	4. Meeting After Midnight

Buffy was pacing up and down her living room, trying to calm herself. Giles had called a few hours ago, telling her that he was in Los Angeles and that he was going to come to Sunnydale together with Angel and Cordelia and some Connor who needed protection. Giles or Angel she could have handled, or at least she thought she could, also Connor as well, but Cordelia was a different matter. For several reasons. For one, she and Cordelia had never really been friends and had not really parted on good terms the last time they saw each other. Then there was her whole friendship with Angel that Buffy didn't really understood. And then there was the issue of her being Xander's ex and his upcoming wedding with Anya in a few days.

And last but not least there was Spike. Not only did he and Angel not get along, Buffy wasn't even sure she got along with him right now or ever. Deep down she knew that she and the blond vampire did get along before, and probably would again in the future. Even if she didn't want to, Spike would work tirelessly to tear her walls down again and get back into her good graces. Damn him and his belief that he was in love with her, Buffy thought. It was not that she didn't believe that he cared. She knew that he was capable of that at the very least. He had proven that he was capable of that by his devotion to Drusilla in the past, and that he truly wanted to be part of the Scoobies by be willing to stake her. He had proven his caring about Buffy countless times, he had proven that he had cared about Joyce by actually mourning her, and that he cared about Dawn by being there for her whenever she needed him. Only that knowing that he cared made it so much harder for Buffy to actually hate him again as she wanted to right now.

"When are they finally getting here," Xander whined, after nearly falling asleep for at least the third time in the last half hour.

Buffy had called together the whole gang at Giles's request and had started to regret it. With everybody coming, Dawn had claimed that she was to excited to stay in bed and sleep. She and Willow and managed to wear Buffy down until she allowed her sister to stay in the living room with them, resulting into Dawn falling asleep on the couch regardless. But Xander's constant complaining had woken her up again. One more reason to be annoyed with him for Buffy. "I don't know," she said and continued to pace again.

"Why does Dead Boy need our help anyway," Xander asked.

"Because he's a poof and got in over his head," Spike offered, gaining an angry look from Buffy, which shut him up for now.

"It doesn't take that long to drive from L.A. to here," Xander suddenly said after a few more minutes of silence.

"Not if you want to make sure that you aren't being followed, Harris," Spike countered.

"What," Buffy found herself asking.

Spiked rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Slayer? He and the cheerleader chit come here to protect somebody. They clearly think L.A. is too dangerous, and the last thing they'd want is anybody following them here if they want to get this Connor to safety."

Buffy had no reply for this. She hated it when she knew that Spike was right about something and she couldn't argue back. Then she and the others heard a car parking outside.

"Is that them," Dawn asked sleepily.

"Must be," Buffy answered and walked over to the door, opening it. She saw Giles, Angel and Cordelia walking up to her house, Angel and Cordelia carrying something between them that looked like a baby carrier. "Giles," Buffy asked, unable to say anything more.

"Buffy," her Watcher greeted her, unsure of what to say himself. "Ahm, could we...?"

"Yeah, come in," Buffy said and let the four arrivals into the house. Connor was a baby, she realised.

"Good, everybody's here," Giles said approvingly before looking at Spike. "Even you," he added disapprovingly.

"You said I should call together the gang and he's a full-time member," Buffy said, for some reason finding the need to defend Spike.

"Seriously," both Angel and Cordelia asked at once.

Buffy finally took a good look at both of them. They seemed different, especially Cordelia. She wasn't wearing any designer clothes, nevertheless her attire was stunning, especially after a several hours long drive. But what Buffy noticed most was her short hair and the lack of make-up. Angel also came across different, there was something about him that Buffy couldn't put a finger on. And both of them clearly didn't seem to want to be here.

"Yes he is," Buffy finally said. "And that little guy here is Connor I assume?"

"Yes," Cordelia answered, her voice a mixture of protectiveness and anxiety.

"What, got tired of babysitting Cordelia," Xander asked teasingly, earning himself a growl from both Angel and Cordelia, which surprised Buffy.

"I think you should tell them the whole story," Giles encouraged the other two arrivals as Anya was walking over to them to take a good look at the baby. Xander hold her back and told her with his eyes that she should better sit back and listen.

Angel and Cordelia looked at each other, clearly having a talk with their eyes that only they fully understood, something that made Buffy seriously jealous, before putting down the carrier and telling them how the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart had resurrected Darla, hoping Angel would sire her and turn evil again, and how when that failed they got Drusilla to do it for them, how Angel got depressed and slept with Darla afterwards.

"Angel, your...," Buffy started but Angel's look shut her up.

"I didn't lose my soul. I didn't love Darla, so she couldn't give me a moment of perfect happiness," he explained.

Buffy knew she had a smug expression on her face as a result of that statement, which of course cause Spike to groan and wanting to punch something, but strangely enough made Cordelia obviously jealous.

"I don't see what this has to do with the baby," Anya chimed in.

Angel sighed and then dropped the bomb. "He's my son. The impossible child of two vampires."

"What," shouted all the Scoobies at once.

"Ssh, you're going to wake him up," Cordelia chastised them, which surprised Buffy. She seemed to be strangely protective of a child that wasn't even hers.

"So, where's Darla," Buffy asked.

"Dead," was Angel's answer. "She dusted herself before Connor was born, knowing that she couldn't love him and would probably kill him for making her feel human."

"What," Buffy asked again.

"He's human," Cordelia said and explained how the doctors had never found anything that would indicate that Connor wasn't a perfectly normal four months old baby boy.

"I don't know what sounds more unlikely. Two vampires having a baby or that baby being human," Spike said.

Giles sighed. "Both are just as unlikely, but Connor is the proof that it can in fact happen."

"Then why did it never happen before," Anya asked. "I mean, I've never heard of it and I've been longer around than even these two put together," she said, gesturing to the two vampires in the room.

"Because he's a miracle child, given to me by the Powers That Be for some reason. I don't know why, I just know that they did," Angel said.

"The Powers That Be," Buffy asked confused.

"Very powerful beings, existing on a higher plane of existence. Even most higher demons avoid them. If they wanted to, they could rule the world and the best hope we'd have is a lot of pure demons rising up against them," Anya explained.

"Then why don't they," asked Xander.

"They have a strict non-interference policy. They sometimes bend that by sending some people visions or using some beings as conduits to talk to lower beings like us, but in general they stay out of our affairs. I've heard stories of some of them trying to directly interfere being banished onto our plane with no memories or powers, often to places where nobody who could or would help them would ever find them."

"Then why would they give Angel a son," Buffy wanted to know.

"Because I'm their champion," Angel answered.

"Pompous much, Peaches?"

Angel growled at Spike. "I didn't chose it. But they brought me back from hell to do their biding."

"And how do you know what they want," Willow asked.

Angel looked at Buffy. "Remember Doyle?"

Buffy had to think hard for a moment before she remembered the guy Angel and Cordelia used to work with when she went to Los Angeles to confront him about being in Sunnydale without telling her over two years ago. "Yes. Why?"

"He was my seer. He got visions from the Powers to show me who I had to save."

"Was?"

"Yes, was. He's dead. He died shortly after your visit," Angel said.

"Then who's your seer now? Or don't you have one anymore," Buffy wondered.

"Before Doyle died he transferred his powers onto me," Cordelia answered.

"You're a seer," Buffy asked surprised and Cordelia just nodded.

"That's not possible," Anya interjected. "No normal human being could stand the pressure of constantly getting visions. You'd either go insane or..."

"...you die because your brain's decaying," Cordelia finished. "Yes, been there, done that."

"Moment, are you saying that you're dying," Xander asked concerned, causing a flash of hurt to wander over Anya's facial features.

"Not anymore."

"So you're not a seer anymore then," asked Dawn.

"No, I still am."

"But how...," Buffy started to ask, but Spike was faster. "She's a half-demon now," he said. "I was wondering what that smell was. At first I thought it was just Peaches, since he's all over you, but you aren't completely human, aren't you chit?"

"A couple of months ago I nearly died from the visions. I made a deal with the Powers to keep them and be turned into a half-demon."

Xander wanted to say something, but Buffy was hung up on something else Spike said. "What do you mean, Angel's smell's all over her?"

Angel sighed. "Cordy and I are in a relationship," he said and took Cordelia's hand. She squeezed it and the two looked lovingly into each other's eyes, an uneasy but happy smile appearing on their faces that made Buffy want to throw up. Especially since she noticed Cordelia wearing a Claddagh ring, similar to the one that Angel had given her years ago. The heart was pointed at her, and Angel was also wearing one. She didn't know if it was the same one that he used to wear, but it wasn't longer reversed as it used to be. She knew exactly what that meant and that couldn't be happening, she was telling herself. Angel didn't move on, not from her, not with Cordelia. "You what," she asked in a small voice, not believing what she was seeing and hearing.

"We're in a relationship," Angel repeated, more certain and strong this time, leaving no room for interpretation.

"When you say relationship, do you mean romantic," Willow wondered out loud and the two confirmed it.

"Since when," asked Buffy, still with a small voice.

"Officially? Since two weeks," Angel answered.

"But if you'd ask Lorne or Fred they'd tell you that we just changed the label of what we have," Cordelia added. It seemed like her uneasiness was slipping away and she was starting to become her old, arrogant, self-centred self.

Buffy wanted to say something, wanted to ask Angel why, but Giles was faster. He cleared his throat and got everyone's attention back to him. "Now, as you probably guessed due to his heritage, Connor has some people that are after him," he said.

"Like who," Tara asked, speaking up for the first time since Angel and Cordelia had arrived. She didn't really know them, so Buffy was not surprised that the often still very shy witch had decided to remain in the background, not involving herself in the conversation.

"Wolfram & Hart, for starters," Angel answered. "And then there's Holtz."

"Holtz? Holtz who," Xander asked.

"Daniel Holtz. Famous vampire hunter from the 18th century. Angelus killed his family and now he's out for revenge," Angel answered.

"He somehow found a way into the present. We assume with the help of a time travelling demon known as Sahjhan. I was hoping that maybe Anya had heard of him before," Giles added, but Anya denied having ever heard of him.

"And then there's the thing about the fake prophecy," Cordelia added.

"A fake prophecy," Willow asked.

"At least we believe it to be fake or at least that it has been tempered with. That might be something you and Tara can help me with," Giles said.

"What does the prophecy say," Xander asked curiously.

"That I'd kill Connor," Angel answered rather hesitantly.

"But he won't," Cordelia added, sounding awfully sure of that.

"How do you know," Xander wanted to know, getting offensive. Buffy knew that he never liked Angel, but accusing him of being able to kill his own child was going a bit far she thought. But she didn't say anything, still trying to process the idea of Angel and Cordelia having a romantic relationship, and him having a son with yet another woman.

"Because he won't. Not only because the prophecy is either made up completely or tampered with, but even if he were to try, I wouldn't let him."

There was something about Cordelia, something in her voice and stance that made Buffy actually believe this statement.

"She's feisty. I like her," Spike said, grinning at Angel, who growled at him in return.

"How do you know that it has been tampered with," Willow wanted to know, trying to keep the conversation on track and from spiralling out of control as long as possible.

Cordelia and Angel exchanged some looks with each other, then with Giles before starting to tell the story of how everything in the prophecy was starting to become true and how Cordelia discovered that Wolfram & Hart had stolen Connor's blood from the doctor's office, using it to spike Angel's pigs blood with it, making him more violent and prone to get easily angry at Connor until the baby had started to smell like food to him.

"Damn that's dark," Xander said and even Spike seemed shocked by this revelation. "But then he very well might..."

"No he won't," Cordelia insisted. "We discovered the plot and got rid of all the blood."

"And I already started to calm down again," Angel assured him.

"Excuse me if I don't take your word for it, Dead Boy," Xander countered.

"Then take mine or Cordelia's," Giles suddenly said. "Plus, Angel and Cordelia had a good plan on keeping Connor save until Angel was completely back to normal."

"And that was," Buffy suddenly found herself asking, re-entering the conversation.

"I took Connor home with me, so that he could stay at my place for a couple of days until Angel was back to normal."

"Not a bad plan," Tara said.

"But something must have gone wrong, otherwise you guys wouldn't be here," Buffy noted.

Cordelia sighed and explained how Wesley had lied about having translated the prophecy, and how she found out and called in Giles for help.

"That's why I think there's a thrall on it," Giles added. "The longer Wesley worked on the prophecy, the more paranoid he became and actually started to meet with Holtz, having plans to take Connor away from Angel himself. When I just started to look at it, all my anger about Jenny's death came back to me, which I might not even had realised if Lorne hadn't pointed out that the prophecy came him the creeps, and him being a Deathwork demon..."

"What the hell is a deathwork demon," Xander interrupted.

"Empath demons from Pylea," Cordelia answered.

"Lorne wouldn't hurt a fly before you ask," Angel assured them.

Giles nodded. "I've only known him for a couple of minutes and I think I can concur with that. Anyway, him being an empath demon and Cordelia being a half-demon seer, the thrall had other effects on them than normal humans. It still made them suspicious and paranoid but not the same degree as me or Wesley."

"That's why you called Giles," Buffy realised, and Cordelia nodded in confirmation.

"And where's the prophecy now," Spike asked.

"In the car with our other stuff," Angel answered.

"And we have to ditch the car," Giles added.

Spike smirked. "Never thought I'd see the day in which you two got together to steal a car."

"Yeah well, desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures," Giles defended himself while doing what he always did in these kind of situations – cleaning his glasses.

"Then better get the stuff in and let's get rid of it," Dawn announced, earning herself disapproving looks from all of the adults. "Oh come on, you were all thinking it," she complained.

"I still don't understand how we fit into all of this," Buffy said, still looking disapprovingly at her sister.

Angel sighed. "We couldn't longer stay in Los Angeles," he said, and then Cordelia explained how a Wolfram & Hart SWAT team had raided her place several hours earlier, and how they had taken Wesley. This was followed by Angel telling them about his confrontation with Holtz. "We need to buy ourselves time until we can figure out what to do about them," he concluded.

"Still doesn't explain why you guys are here though," Xander countered.

"Because they wouldn't expect us to go back to Sunnydale," Cordelia said.

"Why," Tara asked.

"Well, I've sworn myself to never return here, and considering that I never really had any true friends here and that my parents and I are on non-speaking terms, there never really isn't any reason for me to come back here anyway."

"And I, well, Angelus," Angel simply said, sounding ashamed.

Buffy wanted to tell him that it was okay, she wanted to hug him, to kiss him, to maybe just squeeze his hand, but Cordelia was already doing so. She squeezed Angel's hand and turned to him, looking him into the eyes, telling him something in one look that made Angel smile. It was a sad smile, but a smile regardless. And then Cordelia warned him to "not go into brooding mode right now."

"I don't really plan to. But being here brings back bad memories that I rather not think about 24/7. It's bad enough to have nightmares about them," Angel admitted, letting his head hang again.

Cordelia grabbed his chin and forced him to look into her eyes. Buffy suddenly had the urge to clean her throat. The last thing she wanted to witness right now was a kiss between Angel and Cordelia. "So you came here in the hopes that nobody would look for you, and if they did, that we'd help you guys kick their asses," Buffy said, knowing that she had to say something after breaking up the romantic moment between her ex and Queen C.

"More or less," Angel admitted. "And Giles also had another idea."

Buffy turned to Giles, telling him to explain himself with one look.

The Watcher sighed and once again cleaned his glasses. "Well, you see, we don't really know how to get rid of Wolfram & Hart, but there might be a way to get rid of Holtz."

"We kill him," Spike offered.

"No," said Angel, Cordelia, Buffy, Giles, Willow and Tara all at once.

"Hey, just an idea," Spike said, raising his hands defensively.

"A stupid idea," Buffy retorted and then turned her attention back to Giles. "What was your idea?"

"Riley," Giles simply said.

"What," the Scoobies shouted out in unison.

"Seriously, this room is developing an echo," Xander joked, earning himself annoyed looks from the others.

"Holtz is a criminal. He had one of his people spy on Cordelia and try to kidnap her and Connor, and then tried to blackmail Angel with the information of Cordelia's whereabouts. He belongs behind bars, but due to who he is we can hardly just call the police on him," Giles explained.

"But you think we can just call on my ex-boyfriend to help out my other ex-boyfriend, neither one of them actually liking the other one? You know that this is a stupid idea, right?"

"That's what we said," Angel and Cordelia added in.

"Yeah, I know, but... Buffy, if you were to ask him, he might be willing to help us and keep Connor's heritage out of it," Giles argued.

"Why," Buffy simply asked.

"Because we can't risk the US government to find out about Connor," Giles said forcefully. "If they do, they'll do the same to him that Wolfram & Hart tries to do."

"And that would be," asked the Slayer.

"Experiment on him," Spike answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, which to him it probably was, Buffy assumed.

"But he's just a small baby," Willow said in shock.

"As if the suits would care about that," Spike spat.

"I hate to say it, but Spike's right," Angel agreed. "They wouldn't care. Just as the Watcher's Council wouldn't care. They might even go a step further."

"What do you mean? You don't think they...," Willow couldn't bring herself to finish that thought.

"They would," Giles said.

"Would what," Dawn asked.

"Kill Connor," Cordelia answered, tears in her eyes.

Silence fell over the group. Even Buffy had to admit that she wanted to help them, despite her hurt over Angel choosing Cordelia over her to raise his son with. "So let me get this straight," she said. "You can't call the Council because they might kill Connor. We can't really directly go to Riley because his superiors would likely take Connor away on their own. And now you want me to go to him and beg him to help me help a guy he doesn't like and he still blames for our break-up? I doubt that this is going to work, Giles."

"I wasn't even around when you two broke up," Angel protested.

"I know," Buffy sighed. "If anything Spike was the reason for the break-up."

"Hey, what did I do," Spike asked in protest.

"You told me what he did in that run-down building, or vampire nest, whatever you wanna call it," Buffy reminded him angrily.

"Vampire nest," Angel and Cordelia asked.

"Long story," Buffy replied.

"Riley paid to have vampire's feed on him after a certain famous Romanian vampire came to town and had the Slayer pretty smitten up," Spike answered in more but still pretty vague detail.

"He did what," Cordelia asked in shock while Angel asked, "Moment, Dracula was here," which caused Cordelia to ask him if Dracula was actually real.

"He is and he owes me money," Spike snarled. "Long story."

"Okay but what got Dracula to do with Riley more or less whoring out to vampires to be smooched upon," Cordelia wanted to know.

Spike smirked. "Because he wanted to know what the Slayer finds so fascinating about us. I mean, there was Peaches here, then Dracula..."

"There was nothing with Dracula," Buffy protested.

"Tell your self that, luv," Spike replied, still smirking. "And then of course me and the undying connection between us."

Angel and Cordelia simply looked at him as if he was joking while Xander groaned, Anya rolled her eyes, Willow and Giles shook their heads, Dawn giggled and Tara looked even more uncomfortable than she did before.

"In your dreams," Buffy spat.

"Luv, I dream of nothing else," Spike replied, smirking.

Cordelia hold up her hand. "Are they always like that?"

"Spike is," Buffy answered, actually kinda thankful for the intervention. "And I'm sorry Giles, but I'm not going to go to Riley and ask him for this. Not only is he long over me, I mean, he's married now. But I won't ask him to potentially risk his career, not if we might come up with another option."

"Looks like your plan is out, Rupert," Angel said.

"Well, it was worth a try," the Watcher replied, shrugging half-heartedly.

Suddenly Dawn yawned. "So, what now," she said.

"For you it's up to bed," Buffy said in a commanding tone. "I never should have allowed you to sleep down here anyway, you've got school in a couple of hours."

Dawn groaned. "I slept just fine until Xander had to start to complain about them not coming here faster," she complained as she got up and angrily walked up the stairs.

Buffy rolled her eyes, and once Dawn was out of ear shot turned to Willow. "You've to stop talking me into allowing her to partake in our post-midnight meetings," she told her friend.

"Yeah, but we also had them at that age, hadn't we," the young witch replied.

Buffy sighed. "Yeah, but that was different. I am the Slayer and she is not. I had to stay up that late, she has no excuse."

"Somebody is in full on mother mode," Xander joked, earning himself angry glares from everybody else, including Cordelia and Angel.

Then suddenly Angel and Spike seemed to smell something. Angel and Cordelia exchanged one quick look, and just as Connor woke up screaming, Cordelia had already taken him out of his carrier and asked Buffy for the bathroom while Angel was sprinting out of the house to the car. He got back less than a minute later, carrying a pack of diapers.

"Looks like Buffy isn't the only one in mother mode," Willow dead-paned, earning her agreement from the others and an angry look from Xander, who muttered something about the world being unfair. Buffy herself kinda had to agree with him there. She was supposed to be the one playing mother or being the mother of Angel's child, not self-centred bitch queen Cordelia Chase. But all the same she had to agree with Willow as well, Cordelia clearly had the mother role down.

Angel was waiting in the hallway, explaining that his smell was too sensitive, while Cordelia changed Connor's diaper.

"Never believed I'd see the day of Cordelia Chase actually changing a baby's diaper on her own and not letting a nanny or maid do the job," Xander joked as Cordelia returned to the living room with a freshly changed but now wide awake Connor in her arms, rocking him to try to get him back to sleep.

"One, I don't mind. Two, it's not like we could afford to hire a nanny. And three, even if we could, we probably wouldn't. At least, I'd veto it," Cordelia replied.

"You would," Xander asked surprised.

"Yes, wouldn't trade in any moment with the little guy for anything in the world," Cordelia said while only having eyes for Connor. And Angel in turn had only eyes for her.

The truth was that Buffy shared Xander's point of view but couldn't find herself to voice it on her own. She had always assumed that Cordelia would marry some rich guy and make the nannies and maids do all the work. Seeing her actually doing the dirty part of being a mother and enjoying it – it was something that was completely foreign to her view of Cordelia.

"You know, it's really late, or early, maybe we should take a break and discuss this all further in the morning," Buffy said, trying her best to seem casual and in control while at the same time trying to prevent any further display of obvious affection between Angel and Cordelia in front of her.

"Right. I'm going to stay at the Magic Box," Giles announced and then turned to Anya. "If that is okay with you?"

"Fine," Anya replied, handing him her keys. "But you stay in the back and don't open the shop until I get there. It's mine now," she reminded him, which earned her a surprised look from Giles, who clearly tried to suppress a smile.

"Okay, then, I'd propose that Angel and Cordelia stay somewhere safe and undercover, with little possibility of detection," Giles then added.

"The mansion," Xander offered.

Angel shook his head. "If they figured out where we were, that would be one of the first places they'd check out and we would be sitting ducks there."

"I'd offer up my crypt but I doubt you'd take it," Spike said casually.

"Your crypt," Angel asked.

"Yep. Got a nice little apartment style flat going on there. Even got cable."

Buffy and Willow locked eyes. The Slayer sighed, knowing that she would most likely regret this but there was no other way. "We still have a bunker bed in the basement that you can use for now," she offered.

Both Angel and Cordelia smiled at her gratefully and thanked her before getting their stuff from the car and carrying it downstairs. Once they had disappeared behind the basement door, Spike announced that he was going to get rid of the car and left. Xander and Anya announced that they were leaving as well and Tara followed after sharing a longing look with Willow, who disappeared upstairs, leaving Buffy and Giles alone in the living room.

"So, how are you Buffy," Giles asked concerned.

"Fine. I guess," answered the Slayer.

Giles sighed. "I know that I left you at a time when you thought you needed me most but..."

Buffy stopped him right there. "Giles, believe it or not, I'm not mad at you," she said. "Actually, I'm kinda glad."

"You are?"

She nodded. "Yeah, because you were right. I needed to find myself and to learn to take care of myself. I never would have learned to send Dawn to bed at all if you had stayed."

Giles smiled fondly and Buffy just knew that she was still his girl, the daughter he never had. "That's good to hear," he said and then sat down next to her. "And how about Angel?"

"What about him," Buffy asked back, trying to seem calm.

"You know what I mean, Buffy."

This caused Buffy to sigh. "Fine. I'm hurt, okay? First, after my mom died, he comes back here and we make out, which was after he had slept with Darla. Then after I came back, we had this talk and he told me that he still loved me, but he must have had something going on with Cordelia at that time already, I'm certain of it. I mean, if these two, what were their names?"

"Fred and Lorne."

"Right, if they say that it was just a change in label, I doubt that there was nothing there. I mean, it must have been about a month or two before Connor was born."

"From what I gathered when I talked to them, mainly Cordelia, your death kinda triggered Angel starting to realise that there was more to him than just hoping for a chance of you two getting together, and somewhere along the line he and Cordelia fell in love."

"Is this your idea of a pep talk? Because you suck at it," Buffy joked.

Giles laughed a little. "Yeah, well, I honestly don't really know what to say to you to make you feel better."

"Tell me that this is just a fluke and that the two won't last."

Giles sighed. "I can't."

"Because you don't know, right?" Giles didn't say anything. "Please don't tell me that you think the two could actually work out."

"I'm sorry, Buffy," Giles said and squeezed her knee as she started to cry.

"He was the one thing that wasn't supposed to change, Giles. The one who was always supposed to wait for me," she sobbed.

"I know," Giles said and then took her in his arms. "I know. But you have to understand that while Angel is a vampire, he does have a soul, which makes him kind of human."

"I know that, Giles," Buffy complained.

"And you should understand that he has human needs and desires. He loves you, I'm certain of that. You'll always have a special place in his heart, but you do not longer own it on your own. You'll have to share it with Cordelia and Connor now, and as much I'd like to tell you the opposite, if it were to come down to him having to chose between you two, I guess he'd chose her," Giles said, knowing that his words were breaking Buffy's heart. He held onto her and let her cry onto his shoulder, potentially ruining his jacket, until she had run out of tears. He helped her upstairs and tugged her in before leaving for the Magic Box with a heavy heart. Damn kye-rumption and moira.


	5. The First Morning Back

When Cordelia woke up a few hours later from Connor crying, she first had to remember where she was. She was in Buffy's basement. The entire last day was rushing back to her, and with it all the emotions. She and Angel had heard Buffy crying once everyone but Giles had left. It had made them feel bad. The last thing anyone of them wanted was for Buffy to have to suffer under their relationship, but they also knew that no matter what they did she always would until she found somebody to move on with as well. Angel had told her that he had thought that Riley was going to be that person, but now he wasn't sure about that any longer.

Cordelia got out of bed to walk over to Connor but Angel was faster. "I think he's hungry," he announced.

Cordelia smiled and took him from his father. "I'll go upstairs and check if they made the house vampire friendly," she said and took Connor, his bottle and the formula they had brought along with her. "We'll need new formula and diapers," she said as she walked up the stairs.

"Put it on the shopping list," Angel replied, sitting back on the bed.

Cordelia shook her head. She was definitely not going to go shopping, not right now. It wasn't that she didn't want to, shopping still helped her relax, but they were here to stay under the radar, and running around Sunnydale when anybody could recognise her was the complete opposite of that.

When she exited the basement she noticed that Buffy and the others had drawn in the curtains to let in as little direct sunlight as possible. Smiling she turned around and called downstairs that everything was fine before walking towards the kitchen where she only found Willow and no sign of the Summers siblings. "Where are Buffy and Dawn," she asked as she filled Connor's bottle with formula and put it in the microwave.

"Buffy went along when Xander drove Dawn to school," Willow replied, watching Cordelia curiously. "You know, Xander was kinda right last night. I never pictured you as a hands-on mom myself either."

Cordelia blushed. "Honestly, I didn't myself. But then Connor came along, and in all honesty, I wouldn't want it any other way."

Willow nodded as Angel came in and asked about Buffy and Dawn as well, while he got himself and Cordelia a cup of coffee each. After Willow's answer the bottle for Connor was ready. "This is really weird, you know," Willow stated. "I mean, you two being together, more or less having a child together. I never imagined it. I always thought, well, that Angel and Buffy were to end up together. But then again, I never imagined me having a girlfriend, so there's that."

"Girlfriend," Angel asked.

"Yeah, Tara. She was the shy one yesterday. We... actually we aren't together anymore. We had a fight about me wanting to use magic as the easy way out far too much. And... she was right. Still, we broke up. But we are working things out," Willow told them, the sadness of what happened between her and Tara starting to get the better of her.

"I'm so sorry," Cordelia said and handed over Connor to Angel before sitting down next to Willow, grasping one of her hands. "Do you think you two can patch things up again?"

Willow nodded. "Yeah, I think so. We're... we're on a good way."

Cordelia smiled at her, trying to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. "I'm glad to hear that. Honestly Will, if there's anyone I know that deserves to be happy, it's you."

"Really?"

Cordelia nodded. "Yes, really. You've got such a big heart, which is why I managed to forgive you way easier than Xander about what happened back in the day," she told her.

Willow smiled at that. "Wow, you're really good at this pep talk thing."

Cordelia laughed at that. "I have to be. Otherwise I'd never gotten this guy out of constant brooding mode," she said, teasing Angel, who just shrugged in response as he fed his son. After he was done feeding Connor, he held him over his shoulder to burp him. Seeing how Willow was eyeing the baby, Cordelia smiled and offered her to hold Connor.

"Me," asked Willow surprised.

"I doubt you're going to drop him," Cordelia assured her.

Willow looked over to Angel, who gave her a reassuring smile and handed the baby over to her. At first she looked a bit uncomfortable but then she started to ease into it. "He's so tiny," she said.

"He already has grown a bit," Angel informed her proudly like only a dad could. "Hey buddy, meet your aunt Willow," he then said to his son.

Willow glowed, proud to have been named an honorary aunt. "Hey there," she said to the baby when they all heard the front door open. "That must be Buffy and Xander," Willow said.

And she was right. The two other original Scoobies came into the kitchen carrying shopping bags. "We got some extra food," Buffy announced and turned to Angel. "And we got you some blood. We didn't know what exactly to get you and hence we, ahm, brought all kinds of pigs blood."

"We would've bought some diapers and formula as well, but we didn't know if you needed anything, or what to buy," Xander added as he started to pack away the groceries, clearly knowing his way around the kitchen, which didn't really surprise Cordelia.

"No problem, we'll write down what we need and maybe one of you can get it later," Angel replied thankfully.

"What, Queen C not up for a little shopping trip," Xander asked back.

This caused Cordelia to groan. "Xander, we're here to hide, not to announce our presence by going out to the shopping mall were somebody might recognise us."

"She's right, Xander," Willow added and started to rock Connor slightly. "He's such a cute baby," she said.

"Yeah, he is," Cordelia said proudly. "He even let's us get sleep at night," she then joked.

"Not directly after he was born," Angel objected.

"Seriously, you're going to complain about him needing nearly 24/7 care at a few hours old," Cordelia asked him teasingly.

"No," Angel defended himself. "It's just a fact that... What?"

Cordelia had started laughing. "Nothing. You're right of course," she said between laughs.

"Then why," Angel asked confused.

"God, you can be such a dork."

"I'm not a dork," Angel said with a facial expression that made him look even more like a dork in Cordelia's mind.

"Oh yes you're, Dorcula," Cordelia shot back with a big grin on her face.

"Am not," Angel replied childishly before asking Buffy for the blood and if she had any cinnamon at hand.

"What did I just witness," Xander asked surprised.

"Angel refusing to endorse his true personality as the most dorkiest manpire in the world," Cordelia joked as a response.

"Manpire," Buffy asked, clearly not knowing what else to say.

"Not my idea," Cordelia answered, looking at Angel.

"Well, I'm a man and a vampire," he explained as he heated up his blood.

"Okay, that is kinda dorky," Buffy had to admit.

"You see," Cordelia exclaimed as if she had finally won this never ending argument between them.

Angel just rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee.

"Since when do you drink coffee, I thought you didn't like it," Buffy asked him.

"Oh, I like a good coffee. I just didn't enjoy drinking too much of it because it made me jittery," Angel explained.

Cordelia snorted. "Yeah, right. And coffee in Los Angeles doesn't have any coffin in it."

"No. But before Doyle came along I mainly hang around bars, trying to rat out the vampires preying on young women there. And I either could've drank coffee or way too much blood to counteract the alcohol."

Cordelia shrugged, accepting this explanation. She then took a sip of her own coffee before turning to the three Scoobies. "And what are your plans for today?"

"I'll have to go to work in about... now," Xander said and left in a hurry.

"What's up with him," Angel asked and took his blood out of the microwave, putting the cinnamon in.

"Blood with cinnamon," Buffy asked, sounding both surprised and disgusted.

Angel shrugged. "Yeah, why not? It actually tastes good," he said. When Buffy continued to look at him as if he was crazy, he added; "I'm not making this up. I mean, it tastes well to me, for you probably not."

"How do you even come up with something like that," the Slayer asked.

"He didn't, I did," Cordelia answered.

Buffy opened her mouth and closed it before closing it again, making her look like a goldfish.

"Hey, do you want to take Connor," Willow asked her.

"No, I... I just remembered there's something I've to do before work," Buffy said and ran upstairs.

"And what's wrong with her now," Angel asked.

Cordelia sighed and suddenly locked eyes with Willow. "Men," they both said together.

"Buffy's hurt, Angel. I mean, she still loves you, and here you are with your girlfriend and son. And your girlfriend is nobody but Cordelia, somebody Buffy didn't really get along great with at school," Willow explained.

Angel groaned. "I didn't plan for this. This trip, I mean, or even Connor, hell, I didn't..." He stopped, looking a bit embarrassed.

"You didn't plan to fall in love with me," Cordelia offered sympathetically.

Angel nodded. "Yeah. Which does not mean I don't love you, because I do, I really do..."

Cordelia cut Angel off with a peck on his lips. "I know. I didn't plan to fall in love with you either."

"So it just happened," Willow suddenly asked. "Sorry," she added shyly.

"No, it's okay," Cordelia replied. "And yes, it just happened."

"And I'm not complaining about it," Angel said.

Willow suddenly smiled. "I don't think you should. You two make a great couple," she said before suddenly looking sullen. "I shouldn't be happy about that."

"Why," Angel asked.

"Because I'm Buffy's friend, and I shouldn't be happy that you're happy while she's not. I should be for you to pine after her, and the two of you finding your happily ever after."

Angel sighed. "I'm sorry, Willow, but that's not gonna happen. I'm not saying that I don't care about her anymore, and believe me, I want her to be happy, but she won't have her happily ever after with me because...," Angel paused and looked at Cordelia, "I already got mine."

"Aww," said Cordelia. "Sweet and a dork," she joked before kissing Angel again. "And now get your ass upstairs." Angel looked at her puzzled. "Buffy needs to understand exactly that. If you want her to be happy she has to get over you, and she won't until you tell her that it's over," Cordelia explained.

Angel nodded gloomily and then slowly walked upstairs. Once he was gone, Cordelia sighed, her secure facade being replaced by what she really felt – her insecurities regarding Angel's feelings for Buffy.

"What's wrong," Willow asked and gave her back Connor.

"I just hope that Angel really meant what he said," Cordelia replied, starting to rock her son absent-mindedly.

* * *

Buffy was sitting on her bed, crying again. The world was so unfair, she thought. She had been dead, existing in heaven where there was only bliss. And now she was back on Earth and everything that she had ever taken for granted was ripped away from her. Her mother had already died before, then after her return Giles had left, when she had met Riley again he was married, and now Angel had abandoned her. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Go away," Buffy said.

"Buffy, I think we should talk," replied Angel. "Please."

Contemplating what she should do, she finally got up and closed her curtains before opening the door, letting Angel in. Her room had changed a bit since he had last been here and she wondered if he would notice. "Different and still the same. Like you," he said and turned to her. She could see the regret and pity in his eyes, and also hurt and a trace of what she was truly looking for, love. Maybe not everything was too late for her. "I heard you crying last night," he suddenly said, uncertain of what else to say.

"Oh," Buffy suddenly said.

"And so did Cordelia."

"Oh," Buffy said again. "I wasn't..."

"She has improved hearing now," Angel explained. "And I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you, or for you to find these things out like this."

"And how would you've liked me to find out? By receiving a wedding invitation from you two," Buffy shouted, voicing her own fears out loud.

Angel sighed. "No," he said and paused. "I don't know, but..."

"But what?"

"Buffy, you have to understand that I didn't plan this."

"Obviously."

"I don't mean this talk or this trip. I mean me falling in love with Cordelia. It was nothing I ever saw coming. It was just something that happened."

Buffy snorted. "Yeah, maybe you didn't, but what about her? She always had a thing for you."

"No she didn't."

"Please, she called you..."

"Salty goodness," Angel finished. "I know, but that was before she knew that I was a vampire. She didn't had that kind of interest in me once she found that one out."

"Okay, then why does she has that interest in you again?"

Angel sighed. "Because we got to know each other. We became best friends. And from there we slowly fell for each other before anyone of us knew what happened until all we could do was hide away in the land of denial since we both needed each other for the mission."

"The mission?"

"The mission for the Powers. Her visions, showing me where to go, who to save. We rely on each other for that. We need each other for that. Even if we didn't have these feelings for one another, we'd still be connected, and nothing could change that."

"She could give her visions to someone else," Buffy said.

"She tried, at first, before accepting them as part of who she is now. And I'm afraid the only way for her to get rid of them would be for her to die," Angel explained sadly.

Buffy swallowed down a lump in her throat. This was not the answer she had been hoping for. "What did you mean with land of denial," she found herself asking despite not really wanting to know the answer.

Angel sighed again. "It was about the time you died," Angel said, averting his eyes, not wanting to look at her. He then started to tell her of what happened in Pylea, especially his fight with the Groosalugg. "When she said 'I love him' something inside of me felt like it exploded from joy. I never thought I would feel anything like this again, not after the blowout we two had over Faith. Not even when we kissed at Jocye's funeral I had felt this happy and close to be alive," he admitted.

"What happened then," Buffy asked, transfixed by Angel's story and surprised how well he was at telling it.

"She told me that I'm an idiot, and that she didn't mean me but the Groosalugg," Angel answered heartbroken. "I hadn't felt that crushed since you had told me about Riley."

"Then why are you together with her," Buffy asked accusingly.

"With the same logic you could ask why I should be together with you," Angel retorted calmly and continued with his story. "And when we came back home there was Willow, telling us that you had died. Suddenly it was so easy to blame me feeling so crushed on somehow having felt your death. It was so easy to just run away and justify it with you not longer being there. Even when I got back from Sri Lanka and having bought Cordy an expensive necklace, I still could put that up to being her best friend, asking for forgiveness for simply disappearing like that. I had bought her a whole new set of clothes after the whole Darla incident and me giving away her stuff, so it wasn't anything new. But then you came back."

"What," Buffy asked, feeling as if she was going to get the blame.

"When you had called I immediately ran out of the door. I just needed to see you, but when we sat together and talked all what I had learned the previous months rushed back to me. That I had finally built a life on my own without you in it, meaning that I somehow could live without you. And it made me feel guilty just as it had when I had returned from Sri Lanka. It was Cordy that picked up the pieces then, and without even knowing it, she and Wes did so when I came back from our talk."

"How so?"

Angel sighed. "When I had come back from Sri Lanka, Cordy showed me that living a life without you in it wasn't betraying you. In fact, it was what I had been doing for the last two years already. She taught me that me continuing to fight evil was actually honouring you since before meeting you I had cowered away and just given up. Doing the same again would've been the complete opposite of being respectful to your memory."

"And what was after our talk?"

Angel took a not needed breath to calm himself. "During our entire talk I felt like something was missing. I blamed it on not feeling guilty enough, but when I returned to the office Cordy and Wes were play acting out our relationship for Fred and Gunn. They did it in a comedic style, and it not only showed me that from an outside perspective our dance can seem rather ridiculous, but also what had really been nagging on me during our talk."

"Which would be?"

"That the curse was just an excuse. An excuse I used and you went with because it was easy. It was easy to blame us not working out on the curse. But if we had really wanted to, if there had been a true chance for us, we could have found a way, just as Cordy and I do right now. But there was no chance, not after Angelus, not after you had to kill me and sent me to hell."

"How can you say that," Buffy asked desperately.

"Because we tried Buffy, didn't we? We tried after I came back, and it was never the same again. I constantly felt guilty when I looked at you. And you always had guilt in your eyes as well, you only hid it better than I did. The trust we shared before was gone, and we simply continued to hang onto some hope for a miracle that what we had could come back. And the others could see it – we just didn't because we were in denial about it. I mean, Giles saw it, Xander, Cordy, your mother, even the Mayor and Faith did. And I bet Oz and Willow did too, they just didn't say anything. And even though I had broken up with you I continued to be in denial about the real reason why, because I needed the hope of one day maybe finding a way of having you back in my life to continue to have a reason to live."

"Then what changed," Buffy asked, about to break out into tears ago, mainly because a part of her knew that Angel was right.

"Me realising that I had a life without you that was going to go on regardless of you being there or not. And I remembered something that happened two years ago when Wesley had mistranslated a prophecy, leading us to think that I was to die in an upcoming apocalypse. I wasn't really phased by it and Cordy made it her mission to make me care about it, which lead to her having endless vision and being strapped to a hospital bed. That had been the first time that I realised that she truly meant something to me and that I couldn't lose her. I... After our talk, Cordy and I started to train more, to hang out more. And spending all that time with her, it made me realise that at that moment in my life the one person I couldn't afford to lose wasn't you anymore, it was her. I had been in the land of denial for over three years, not wanting to admit that we didn't work, and that I had actually started to fall in love with my best friend. Then Darla reappeared, Connor was born and we suddenly were parents to a baby without even being in a relationship until there was a case involving two ghosts of former lovers unable to let go."

"Sounds familiar," Buffy said, remembering a similar incident in Sunnydale four years prior, that led to her and Angel being possessed.

"Yeah, more familiar than you might believe," Angel added, and Buffy understood what he meant. He had once again been possessed, only this time the counterpart had not been her but Cordelia. "Having this experience, it showed me that I shouldn't waste time. Cordy had nearly died only weeks before, I could be turned to dust every time I go into a fight. So I finally told her how I felt."

"And how did she react," Buffy asked, hoping against hope that it was not the perfect romance ending.

"She ran away," Angel answered sadly. "Then the Groosalugg showed up again a few hours later and, well, that led to her running to me, telling me that she loved me, and the two of us talking about our relationship. I think you can figure out the rest."

"But why did she run away? Why did she claim to love the Groosalugg and not you? If she truly loves you, she wouldn't have done that."

"No, she just would have shoved her new boyfriend into my face, being proud of moving on," Angel replied sarcastically. "She was living in the land of denial just as I was, just as...," he let the thought trail off. "And she did so because I was."

"What," Buffy asked, not understanding where this was going.

"As long as I still told myself that you were the love of my life, that I couldn't possibly love anybody else but you, was there any reason for her to put herself out there and admit to anyone, including herself, what she felt? Especially after what happened with Xander, who also never hid the fact that she was his second choice and he'd much rather be with you?"

"You don't longer love me," Buffy asked. This was the only thing she had taken away from what he had just said.

Angel sighed. "I didn't say that. I just, damn it, Cordy's right, I'm bad at this. Buffy, I care about you. A lot actually. Maybe you could say I love you," he said and Buffy's face lit up, "but I'm no longer in love with you." Buffy's face fell again. "I'll always care about you, you'll always be important to me. You were the first woman I ever loved, the first person in over a hundred years that made me feel human. That will always make you special to me and one of the most important people in my life. But... neither one of us is the same person we were three years ago when we broke up, let alone four years ago when our relationship actually had potential."

"What does that mean?"

"That we do not longer really know each other."

"But isn't that the point of dating? To get to know each other," Buffy asked, hoping to convince Angel to give them one more chance.

"Yes, but we already have been through this and I just don't think it would work. Not with Angelus, not with me feeling the way I feel for Cordelia."

"And what do you feel for her that you don't feel for me?"

"I'm in love with her, Buffy. I love her in a way I don't love you. With her I know that we have a chance. With you, I don't even longer really know what I feel about you, Buffy. I know that I care about you, I know that I used to be in love with you, and I do know that there still is a certain attraction between us, but I also know that I'm not willing to act upon it ever again. I'd like to be friends with you, if you want that. I don't know if that would work, given our past together, but we could try. But what I do not longer want, what I can't longer be, ever again, is your boyfriend."

Buffy's tears were streaming down her face, and when Angel stepped closer to comfort her she simply told him to go away. She needed to be alone. The man of her dreams had just told her that he didn't love her anymore. That while there was still some attraction between them he wasn't going to act on it because he just didn't feel like that for her. All his heart now belonged to Cordelia, the arrogant bitch queen. How did this happened, she asked herself.

The rational part of the brain told her that Angel had just explained it to her. That neither he nor Cordelia had planned for this to happen. That their connection had simply grown over time. But Buffy didn't want to listen to this. Nor did she want to see the two play happy family together. Her only problem with that was that she knew that she couldn't throw him and Connor out of the house. She still cared too much for Angel to do so, and Connor was just a baby that needed protection. But she could throw Cordelia into the curb, she thought – and dismissed it immediately. If she did that, Angel would follow her and take Connor with him. Which meant that she had to let Cordelia stay as well, as much as it hurt. That only left one more option. She had to work more, go out more often just to spent time out of the house to limit the time she had to spent with the two of them. Hell, maybe even re-start her affair with Spike simply to get away from them.

* * *

Angel came back downstairs and found the two women still sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying their breakfast. "I don't think she took it well," Angel announced as he seated himself. He took a look at his cup of blood and took one good swing of it before grabbing a slice of bread.

"What did you tell her," Willow asked, and Angel recapped his talk with Buffy. "No wonder she threw you out," Willow said after that.

Angel sighed. "I know," he admitted. "It's just, what else can I tell her? Lie to her? Give her some false hope that we might get back together again?"

"No, but how about not make it about how much you love Cordelia," Willow advised.

"And if I hadn't she'd believe that there was a chance for her to get between us," Angel argued depressed. "I want to punch Riley right now," he suddenly said.

"Why," Cordelia asked surprised.

"Because he broke up with her. I didn't like him but the two had something going. They might have worked out," Angel argued. When he looked at Willow he saw that she wanted to say something but didn't. "What is it, Will," he asked, hoping that the use of her nickname by him was okay for her.

"It's nothing," she said. "Did you just call me Will," she asked suddenly.

"I did," Angel answered rather shy. He hadn't want to offend anybody else this morning.

And then Willow's face lit up. "Hey, I think that's great. You know back in the day you never used nicknames for any of us. I rather like this new version of you."

Angel had to smile at this. "Thank you," he said and forgot all about the look Willow had on her a moment earlier.

Cordelia hadn't forgotten it though. "Why don't you think Buffy and Riley would have worked out, Will," she asked, obviously trying to sound not too intruding.

For Willow this was also something new about Cordelia. She had developed at least a rudimentary amount of tact which she didn't had before. "Because Riley was right," she admitted. "Buffy has a thing for vampires. Not just Angel, but there was a certain attraction between her and Dracula as well, which I don't just think had something to do with his power to hypnotise people. And as much Spike is teasing about it...," she let it trail off, keenly aware of the bad relationship between Angel and Spike.

"You got to be kidding me, right," Cordelia asked at the implication that left both her and Angel dumbfounded.

Willow shook her head. "No. There definitely is something there. I mean, they both care about each other, only that Buffy doesn't want to show or admit it."

"And Spike does," Angel asked, not really believing what he was hearing at the moment.

"He's actually pretty obvious about it, even though he tries to play it cool. But he cares for her. He also cares for Dawn, but more in an older brother kind of way. I think he might be more protective of her when it comes to boys than even Buffy is."

"Seriously," both Angel and Cordelia asked.

Willow nodded again. "Yeah. Of course he might just feel like he owes it to Joyce. The two actually had gotten along, and I think he actually mourned her death. Not as much as he had mourned Buffy's but still."

This was a lot for Angel to take in. It seemed like his grandchilde had started to feel real attachment to the Summers. Of course in the case of a vampire that could mean a lot of bad things. "Has he ever...," Angel started asking but couldn't bring himself to finish that question.

"Not really. Not since Adam at least, and that was two years ago. Since then he really has been one of the good guys. Last year, when this hell goddess Glory was after Dawn, she captured him and tortured him. I mean, you've been to hell Angel, you probably know what it feels like to go through this, but he never cracked and told her what she wanted to know about Dawn or Buffy."

Angel was amazed about this. Spike might have had a chip in his head that stopped him from harming humans, but he was still a vampire, and a brutal one at that. Somebody who liked to think of himself as the big bad. And he actually stood up to a hell goddess and let himself get tortured in the most cruel ways possible instead of giving up Buffy or Dawn? Could it be that Spike had somehow developed a conscious without a soul, he asked himself. He wanted to dismiss this idea, but he couldn't because the only other explanation was that Spike really cared about Buffy and her sister, maybe even more than cared. And that thought turned Angel's stomach upside down. He wanted Buffy to be happy, but not with someone like Spike.

"Somehow I can't really see Spike as a good guy, or as Buffy's boyfriend," Cordelia said, agreeing with Angel's current thoughts.

Willow smiled weakly. "Prior to this morning I couldn't have imagined you two as a couple, or you as a great mom."

This made Angel wince and Cordelia sigh. "Guess you're right," Cordelia admitted. "Anyway, enough about the depressing start of the day. Tell us about the upcoming wedding!"

Willow's features suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree. She started to tell them all about the preparations, how nervous everyone was, especially Anya and Xander of course, what a cute couple they were, and their ideas of how to explain Anya's many demon friends to Xander's family. "Too bad you two can't come. I mean, you aren't invited, and even if you were, somebody would definitely recognise you and blow your cover."

"Yeah, too bad," Cordelia agreed. "I'd have loved to go. Don't get me wrong, I love just spending time with my two boys here, but sometimes I want to go out and have some fun."

"Then why don't you," Angel asked surprised. "I mean, I could take care of Connor on my own for a few hours."

Cordelia grinned. "I know. But what would happen if I get a vision? Plus, as I said before and I'll say again, I wouldn't trade in time with Connor for anything in the world."

"This," Willow suddenly exclaimed, causing the other two to look at her. "This is what I mean with great mom. My mom wasn't like that, Xander's parents weren't really like this either. The only mother I've ever known who was like this was..."

"...Joyce," Angel finished. "My parents weren't that great either," he admitted. And that was an understatement, he knew that. His father had been abusive, and his mother had been passive, always taking his father's outbursts and never defending her children. It really was no wonder that Angelus had been such an arrogant, aggressive and violent bastard with all the unresolved anger issues his father had caused within him when he had still been Liam all these centuries ago.

"And neither were my parents," added Cordelia.

"Do you really no longer talk to them?"

The half-demon shook her head. "We're on a strict birthday- and Christmas-card communication basis at this point. They don't even know about me and Angel, let alone Connor," she said, looking kinda sad and turned her attention to her son, who was currently sitting on her leg, wanting to move about. "I doubt they'd even accept him as their own grandson. I mean, they haven't even gotten to terms with me giving up on becoming an actress and being a private investigator instead."

Angel knew what he had to do. He moved his chair closer to hers and laid his arm around her, pulling her closer to him. Then he kissed her on the head and let her bury it into the crook of his neck. Connor looked up and smiled at the sight of both of his parents, who immediately smiled back at him.

Willow suddenly rushed out of the room, which confused them but they soon returned to the same stance they had before. Out of apparently nowhere suddenly there was suddenly a flash of light. Willow had gotten a camera to make a picture of the perfect family scene in front of her. "Sorry, but it was just too perfect to not make one," she admitted.

Angel and Cordelia both smiled at her for this. "No problem," Angel said.

Suddenly the door bell rang. Connor gave a cry and Cordelia quickly soothed him back into his happy state, giving him his dummy. Willow opened the door and let Giles in, who didn't look too happy. "Where's Buffy," he asked.

"Upstairs," Willow said after exchanging an uneasy look with Angel.

Giles sighed. "Of course," he said sadly. "You gave her the let down speech?"

"Rupert, I had to," Angel defended himself.

Giles nodded and sighed. "I know. Doesn't make it better or easier for her though. Anyway, the Council called." That made the others look at him with shock.

"What did they want," Buffy asked, suddenly appearing at the stairs, probably having heard the door bell.

"Ahm, they requested me to return to England. Apparently there's a daemon lose in Somerset, where I live, and, ahm, they want me to deal with it," he explained.

"How long will that take," Willow asked concerned.

Giles shrugged. "I don't know. Anya wasn't too happy about it since I'll probably have to miss the wedding."

"Damn," Buffy cursed. "Did she ask you?"

"About walking her down the aisle and giving her away? Yes. I must say, I was rather surprised about it when she did, but..."

"Why would you be surprised? I mean, her real father is dead since over a thousand years, and you're the closes thing to a dad she has," Willow interrupted. Angel had to agree with this statement. Giles was the primary father figure for all the Scoobies. He wondered if Buffy or Willow were ever to get married if they had their real father give them away or Giles.

Giles himself smiled thankfully. "Thank you," he said, a bit shy. "And I of course accepted, but now it doesn't seem like I'll be able to," he added sadly. "Anyway, I promised her that I'll find a way to make it up to her. I just don't know how yet."

"You'll think of something," Buffy assured him.

"Thank you. Anyway," he then said and handed the container with the prophecy in it to Angel. "When Anya looked at it the thrall worked pretty fast on her. She actually had the idea of saving Connor by her and Xander adopting him as their own, and sending you two simply back to Los Angeles," he said. "Then again, it could also simply be Anya not wanting to wait to become a mother," he added.

"Wouldn't be surprised," Buffy agreed. "So what now?"

"I'd say that you keep this thing locked up somewhere safe until Willow and Tara manage to find a way to determine what kind of thrall has been placed on it and if it can be reversed. Otherwise we should probably destroy it."

"When are you going," Buffy asked, clearly not wanting him to go.

Giles sighed. "I'm already on my way. I'm going to take the next flight back to England. I'm sorry, Buffy, I actually hoped to stay a little bit longer," he told her, and the look on his face told Angel that he really wanted to stay and tell the Council to screw themselves. And Buffy's reaction was the same. It made Angel feel guilty for just breaking her heart now that Giles was breaking it again by going away.

"We're going to take this one downstairs," Cordelia suddenly said, meaning the prophecy. Angel understood that she was trying to give the two of them a moment alone and followed her into the basement.

"Good thinking," he complimented and then kissed her.

"Thanks," she replied and smiled at him. "Now what are your plans for today," she asked as she put Connor down.

Angel shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I mean, I could try to find some books to read. We'll probably just end up watching television, hoping that Willow and Tara manage to remove the thrall, and that Anya finds something on this Sahjhan guy."

"Yeah," Cordelia replied, clearly not happy about this. "I just wished there was more we could do."

"I know," Angel replied and hugged her. "Maybe we could urge Connor to learn how to crawl," he suggested.

This made Cordelia smile. "Yeah, we can do that." They quickly kissed again. "What are the others doing, you think?"

"Hopefully trying to rescue Wesley and give Holtz a good ass-whooping."


	6. In Need for Help

"So, any plans," Gunn asked Fred who was currently sitting at Cordelia's desk waiting for a phone call. Any phone call. Hoping it would be Angel and Cordelia with good news, or at least a new client, but afraid that it would Wolfram & Hart wanting to blackmail them with Wesley. Thinking of Wesley pained her. She was really mad at him for wanting to take Connor away, but the fear that something could happen to him, and she might never see him again, was eating her up inside. Having conflicting feelings for someone sucked, she concluded.

"Hello, Fred, honey, I asked you a question," Gunn said to get his girlfriend's attention.

"What? Oh, I'm sorry, it's just... I'm worried about what they might be doing to Wesley, you know."

Gunn crossed his arms. "I understand, baby, but he was planing to betray us."

"Yeah, but that wasn't his fault, was it? This thrall thing made him do it."

"We don't know that. The other English guy could've been wrong. What do we even know about him?"

"We know that Angel and Cordelia trust him, and that when it comes to stuff like this he's an even bigger expert than Wesley himself."

Gunn groaned. "Maybe, but I don't know if we should completely trust him. What if he's going to rat them out to these Watcher guys anyway?"

"I doubt he will," Fred argued, getting annoyed that Gunn was trying so hard to make Giles out as a bad guy.

"Okay, baby," Gunn said, sighing. He shook his head and went downstairs to the training room.

Fred herself sighed and looked at the computer screen in front of her. She had tried to hack into Wolfram & Hart's system and find something on Wesley, or Holtz, or Sahjhan. But what she found didn't really help them; they had a file on Wesley and Holtz respectively, but those were profiles that didn't really tell her where Wesley was now, or how to potentially get rid of Holtz. And she hadn't even found anything on Sahjhan yet.

Suddenly she noticed that two people were entering the lobby. She looked up and was surprised to see Lorne being accompanied by a blond woman Fred had never seen before. "You maybe should get Gunn here, Freddekins."

Fred nodded and went downstairs to get Gunn. "What's up," he asked before she even said anything. He was currently punching a sandbag in anger.

"Lorne's here – with some blond woman. Could be a client."

That made Gun stop punching the bag and turn around to his girlfriend. "What?"

Fred shrugged. "I don't know. But he's here and wanted me to get you upstairs," she said and then left, not waiting for Gunn to follow her. He was angry, she knew that. But what she didn't understand was why he was so angry at her. Only because she was willing to forgive Wesley since he had acted under the influence of magic the last few weeks? That seemed rather patty to her.

She heard Gunn mutter something, probably some curses, and then follow her upstairs just as she was already at the top again. "He's coming," she announced to Lorne, who simply nodded.

The blonde was looking around the room. "You work here," she asked Fred and she nodded, not entirely sure how to act around her.

Then Gunn came into the room. "What is she doing here," he demanded to know.

"Chocolate cake, we need help. So here it is."

Gunn grunted. "So you went to a has been cop?"

"You know her," Fred asked surprised.

"Yes. She tried to frame Angel for a murder she knew he couldn't have committed, and also racially profiled me."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," said the blonde, sounding genuinely ashamed to Fred but Gunn just scoffed at this. "Listen, your friend here," she said nodding to Lorne, sounding a bit uncomfortable probably due to him being a demon, Fred guessed, "told me that you needed help with something, and that Angel was in danger. I'm here to help, but if you don't want it I can easily go again. By the way, where is Angel?"

"Not here," Gunn replied, still stand-offish. The blonde simply nodded, looking sad about the rejection and started to walk away. Fred and Lorne gave Gunn angry looks for his behaviour. "What," he asked them hotly. "It's not like she and Angel are friends."

"We used to be," the blonde said to this, with her back turned to them. "It just took me a long time to accept that... that he was a vampire."

"Oh," was all Fred could say about that.

"Is that why you accused him of murder," Gunn asked angrily.

"Yes," the blond ex-cop replied, turning around half-way. "Vampires killed my father. I was mad and desperate, I wanted revenge, not just on those who killed him but all vampires. And Angel was the only vampire I knew personally, so I let my anger out on him. I know it was wrong, and I don't ask you to understand me because I can barely understand why I did it. All I know is that for a time I gave him the fault for everything that was wrong with my life. My father's death, my isolation within the department, my demotion, and in the end my firing."

"Then why would you want to help us now," Gunn asked, and Fred had to agree that this was a very good question given the woman's apparent dislike for Angel.

"Because he saved my life," was her answer. After the three of them just continued to look at her she sighed and explained how Angel had saved her when she had attempted to commit suicide, and that some higher powers had allowed him to enter her apartment without ever being invited in to do so. "I owe him my life, my second chance at it anyway. I forgave him that day, and if he's really in that much danger that your friend comes to me I know that it has to be serious, and I'm more than willing to help. But if you don't want my help there's nothing I can do," she said before walking out again.

"You should've gone to the Groosalugg," Gunn said to Lorne just as the blonde had left the building.

Lorne sighed. "Right, because he would be so willing to help after the Princess broke his heart just two weeks ago," the green demon replied.

Fred could still remember what had happened. After the entire fiasco at the ballet Angel had told Cordelia how he felt about her, only they hadn't known that the time. All Fred had seen was a confused and furious Cordelia running out of the building, leaving behind a devastated Angel. A few hours later the Groosalugg had shown up and Lorne had called Cordelia back to the hotel. Fred had walked in when the former regent of Pylea had kissed his princess, only for Cordelia to suddenly pull back and to run upstairs with the same expression on her face she did have had earlier. Fred had then the uncomfortable task to explain to the Groosalugg some of the things that had happened since he had last seen Cordelia, and when Cordelia had come back down again she took him aside and gave him a let down speech, announcing that she and Angel were together now. The half-demon man had left heartbroken, and had not been seen in or near the hotel since.

"How was that exactly her fault, again? I mean you two were the ones ranting on about how much it was obvious that Barbie and Irish belong together."

Lorne rolled his eyes. "My dearest chocolate muffin, I don't know where the Groosalugg is, but I do know that somebody who might be able to help us find Holtz has just walked out of our door."

Fred had enough of this. She knew that Charles was angry, and he had a right to be that. But this was getting out of hand. "Stop it, Charles," she demanded. "What's her name," she then asked Lorne.

"Kate Lockely," the demon answered calmly, and with a wide, knowing smile on this face.

Fred nodded and stormed after Kate, calling her name when she saw her walking down the street. The former cop turned around and looked questioningly at her. "What do you want," she asked, clearly pissed about the treatment she'd gotten from Charles.

"I know that Charles has been behaving like an ass, and believe me he's like this since this whole mess started, but I really think we do need your help," Fred told her. "I'm Fred by the way. Winifred being my full name, no that would be Winifred Burkle. Nice to meet you Kate," she said and extended her hand as a greeting.

Kate smiled at the young Texan and shook her hand. "I'm Kate, Kate Lockely, but you already seem to know that," she said. "Can we go back inside or will Charles rip our heads off if we do?"

"I doubt it. I mean I'm his girlfriend, he normally always does what I ask of him," Fred replied sheepishly.

Kate smiled at her for that comment. "Really? Then we should put that to good use," she said and the two women walked back to the hotel.

"Where's Charles," Fred asked as they entered and could only spot Lorne in the lobby.

"Downstairs, preparing as he puts it," Lorne answered annoyed.

Fred groaned. "He's going back to his old crew to go hunting tonight, isn't he," she asked Lorne who simply nodded. "I can't believe this. Charles Gunn, move your ass up here right now, we've got to talk!," she ordered, surprising herself and the other with her tone.

"Hey, girl, I don't take lightly to orders, not even from you. And don't forget I got seniority here, that makes me the boss," Gunn argued as he came back upstairs.

"Right, just as it made Cordelia boss after Angel had left. Oh wait, no, Wesley has been the boss since then, hasn't he," Fred replied sarcastically. "You want to go to your old gang for help, fine, do that, even after the more than unpleasant last encounter we had with them, but stop shutting down any idea we have. I'm going to fill Kate in, and then we're going to see what she can do. And you're so not going to stop me."

"Oh really," Gunn replied stand-offish.

"No more blow..."

"Hey girl, those things are classified as private stuff for a reason," Charles interrupted her embarrassed while Kate look on like a deer in headlights to that threat and Lorne simply chuckled.

"Yeah, right," Fred replied, feeling embarrassed herself. "But we need to do something."

"I know," sighed Gunn. "But how is she going to be of help?"

"What kind of problem are we dealing with right now," Kate asked. "I could tell you how I might be able to help you if you were to tell me that."

Fred started to explain what had happened, leaving out the part of Connor being Angel's son and that the two and Cordelia were now hiding in Sunnydale. She only told Kate that Connor was a baby and special, and that Angel and Cordelia had gone into hiding with him. Kate nodded throughout, and then asked if this meant that Angel and Cordelia were in a relationship. When Fred confirmed this she could have sworn that she saw a quick flash of hurt on the former cop's face.

"I might be able to help you find this Holtz guy," Kate said. "I don't have many contacts in the Department, but one or two people still owe me the odd favour. I could have them keep an eye open for him and his accomplice."

"Sounds good to me," Fred replied happily, looking at Gunn, hoping he would agree even though she expected he'd do the opposite.

The man himself simply nodded and when nobody else said something agreed with Kate's idea. "I was going to go out looking for him and this Sahjhan dude tonight, hopefully with my old gang. I'd invite you along but they ain't big on cops."

"I'm not a cop anymore," Kate reminded him.

"No, but you used to be one. Won't take lightly to that either."

Kate shrugged. "Is there anything else I can do?"

"You can help me look through these books," Fred offered, pointing at Wesley's office and the visible stack of books inside of it.

After Kate had agreed to help Fred Lorne happily clapped his hands together, getting everyone's attention. "Now that we've worked this out I think we should start with the work, shouldn't we?" The others agreed and they all went their merry ways. Fred returned to Cordelia's desk, continuing to work her way through Wolfram & Hart's system, Gunn went back downstairs training, and Lorne and Kate left together so that Lorne could give her a description for Holtz that could be put out. All of them hoping that they were able to find something that could help them defend Connor.

* * *

Meanwhile Wesley was sitting in a dark room in some building owned by Wolfram & Hart. He was chained to the chair he was sitting on and the desk in front of him, leaving him no chance of escape. He doubted it would do him any good if he managed to get out of the room anyway. There definitely were guards outside who'd recapture him in a second. If they even bothered with that and didn't just shoot him, he thought.

Suddenly the sole door to the room opened and Lilah Morgan walked in. "Hello, Wesley," she greeted him with a fake pleasant smile on her face.

"What do you want," Wesley asked, cutting right to the chase.

Lilah continued to smile as she sat down opposite him. "The same thing you want, only for different reasons."

Wesley grunted. "I won't give you Connor. I've more faith in Cordelia stopping Angel from killing him and keeping him safe than I have in you lot not turning him into a guinea pig."

The lawyer continued to smile, only that all fake pleasantry was replaced by arrogance and malice. "You know us so well, Wesley. There's only one thing you got wrong," she said. "We will find them, with or without your help."

"Then why am I here?"

"You could help us finding them faster."

"Why should I do that?"

"Because I doubt that you want to live out the rest of your life in this room," Lilah said with an evil glimmer in her eyes that told Wesley that she wasn't kidding.

He sighed. "Even if I wanted to help you, I've got no idea where they could be."

"How about Sunnydale," Lilah asked and pushed a thin file over to him that he hadn't even noticed before. She showed him a picture of Giles at Cordelia's apartment and then at the Hyperion. "Yesterday, Ms. Chase got a visit from a certain Rupert Giles. I think you're familiar with him?"

Wesley gulped. "Of course I am. We... He used to be Buffy's Watcher before me, and we kinda worked together while I was her Watcher back in Sunnydale. But last I heard he was now living in England."

"Oh, we know. And he has booked a flight back there this very morning. But he did so in Sunnydale," Lilah said and showed him phone records of a place with the name Magic Box, and the flight details for a flight back to Bristol from the small airport in Sunnydale for today.

"Maybe he made a short trip and wanted to make a visit to his old friends," Wesley offered. "I honestly don't know why he was here."

"Maybe it was because of the prophecy," Lilah offered.

Wesley shrugged as good as he could. "Maybe. But what do you want me to say? Even if he was here because of it that only makes it less likely that the two and Connor are in Sunnydale."

"Oh really?"

"Yes," Wesley said. "Giles is too clever to give away their hiding place like that and you know it. You want me to tell you otherwise to justify an effort to sent a team or more to the Hellmouth, probably even as a cover for a pet project of yours. Or maybe you just don't want to involve any other branch of your organisation because if Giles is going back to England he might actually have Connor and is now taking him with him to put him under his own protection, and with under that of the Watcher's Council."

"The Council would most likely kill him," Lilah objected.

"I know, only that he doesn't have to tell him who or what the baby actually is, now has he? And that is of course assuming that this isn't some red herring and that Angel and Cordelia are not already on their way to Mexico, or maybe already there. Or maybe they've gone the opposite way and are on their way to Canada. Or maybe they're trying to go for a cross country trip. Or they snuck away on a ship, travelling to wherever. Or maybe they're still in the city. Or they might even have split up. Or Giles is taking the kid to England and Angel and Cordelia are going to meet up with him there. Or maybe the kid is now in Sunnydale but Angel and Cordelia aren't, waiting to pop up somewhere else, hoping to get your attention and draw you away from Connor. Or maybe it is something else but I'm running out of ideas, and I think you already thought of all of these and just want me to tell you which is the most and the least likely possibility to rule one out and to follow what I think is the least likely. I'm sorry, I'm not going to tell you one damn thing."

Lilia showed off her evil grin again. "You're a clever man, Wesley. Too bad you waste your brilliance on the wrong side," she said before leaving the room.

Wesley sighed. He knew that she was going to come back. And he knew that she was going to question him until he gave something away that he didn't want to. A part of him already wanted to tell her where Connor might be since he had a pretty good idea. Angel and Cordelia both knew that nobody would suspect them staying in Sunnydale for a prolonged period of time, and Giles disappearing like that again made it easy to suspect him taking Connor to England with him. But Wesley knew better. Neither Angel or Cordelia would leave the baby in the care of anybody but themselves, and that was dangerous. Angel could still kill him, no matter how careful Cordelia was going to be. That was why he was tempted to tell Lilah what she wanted to know, and she knew it. But he wanted to save the little guy not turn him into a guinea pig for the Senior Partners. That was why he actually hoped that Giles was now taking care of him. He doubted it nevertheless. Angel and Cordelia would either have gone with him to England, or, which he thought was actually more likely, stay in Sunnydale until they figured something out, knowing that if things turned badly and Wolfram & Hart, or Holtz, would turn up there they could always ask the Scoobies for help. A small smile appeared on Wesley's face. He had to think of Buffy's reaction to Connor and Angel now being in love with Cordelia. Buffy was what she had always accused Cordelia of being, a self-centred bitch, at least in Wesley's mind. Maybe bitch was too strong a word but she was definitely self-centred. Having to see Angel in love with another woman and having a family with her would probably tear her apart. And while he didn't wish any real emotional damage on the blonde he didn't mind her getting a call down to Earth, and he wished he could be there when the happened.


	7. A Much Needed Conversation

It had been three days since Angel and Cordelia had arrived in Sunnydale. Buffy had thrown herself into work, slaying, and preparing for the upcoming wedding to stay away from them as much as possible, or to at least keep her mind busy not thinking about them. After Angel told her that there was no chance of the two of them getting back together again she just couldn't stomach the sight of him, especially him being happy with Cordelia and Connor. What hurt nearly as much was how smitten Willow was by the happy little family. Whenever she came home she found Willow either talking with Cordelia or Angel, often even holding Connor herself, and she knew that the witch had made several pictures of the couple and the baby, together and separately.

It didn't help that Dawn was drawn in by them as well. It was easier to forgive her though. Dawn was still a teenager, and the sight of Connor was enough to melt her heart. Then there was Anya who came over on a daily basis. Since the wedding was going to be hosted at Buffy's house that wasn't really a surprise, but she had a soft spot for babies anyway it seemed, and every time she came over she was also completely taken in by the little guy. Which would have been fine with Buffy, even though she was still a bit suspicious about Connor being the son of two vampires, but it made Angel and Cordelia so damn proud and happy. She didn't want to see the two happy, at least not together. She knew that it made her a bad person to wish unhappiness onto somebody, but she didn't care right now. She had been through so much, lost so much in less than a year, so many things had changed for her that she had needed a rock, something to hold onto, the certainty that there was something that would never change. For her that had been the idea of Angel always loving her, and only her. Now this was gone and it was the fault of the arrogant, stupid, self-centred, airheaded bitch queen Cordelia herself.

The rational part of Buffy's brain, which she really didn't like listening to at the moment, told her that she was behaving way more like Cordelia than Cordelia herself was. The former cheerleader clearly was a great mother, something even Buffy had to admit. And she never bothered Buffy by trying to shove her relationship with Angel into her face. That was something else that irked Buffy. The Cordelia she had known wouldn't have wasted a second to show off Angel as her new arm candy. This new Cordelia did the complete opposite instead. She and Angel behaved like they were in a completely normal relationship and nothing special. Buffy's rational side told her that this showed how much Cordelia had actually matured since high school, but Buffy refused to acknowledge it. Because acknowledging it would mean to concede that she might be a fitting partner for Angel which was something she wasn't willing to do.

Buffy continued to think about Angel and Cordelia, trying to think up reasons why it was wrong for them to be together, as she walked through the cemetery patrolling on her own. Both Angel and Cordelia had offered her to come along, but she refused and neither of them had bothered to argue with her. She had told them that she understood that they wanted to get out of the house and do something useful but that they had to stay hidden. She liked to think that they agreed with her reasoning and had stayed at home because of that, but her rational part once again didn't make it easy for her. They respected her feelings and wanted to give her the space she wanted, hoping that with time she would accept their relationship. And Buffy hated this. She wanted them to be like she had been when she was with Riley. She had tried to hurt Angel with her relationship with him because of Faith, and it had worked. Only that the vampire didn't want to hurt her back now that he had the chance, nor did Cordelia want to behave like she was still in high school. It would've been so much easier for Buffy if they did. But no, they had to behave like actual grown ups, being understanding and all. And if they could be like that, why couldn't she?

Suddenly she found herself close to Spike's crypt. She groaned. The last thing she wanted right now was to run into the peroxide blond vampire. It would mean a talk, probably followed by sex. Not that she minded sex. She could pretend he was Angel, something she had done in the beginning. But the longer their affair had lasted the harder it had become. At the end it was Spike both in reality and in her mind with whom she was doing the deed. It was a good thing that Riley had shown up when he did, uncovering that Spike was selling these demon eggs since it gave her the perfect excuse to end things with him. She didn't want to want to share a bed with Spike. Wanting to do so was implying other things that she definitely did not want to think about.

Shaking her head Buffy turned around and started to walk into the opposite direction, hoping that Spike had not somehow sensed her presence. If he wasn't out tailing her anyway. She looked around but couldn't see him, nor could she sense him. Still something did seem off now that she was paying attention. She had the feeling that somebody was watching her. Opting for not snooping around so close to Spike's crypt she started to move further away from it. Maybe whoever was watching her wasn't going to follow her. It was probably that stupid Trio trying to play supervillains again, she concluded.

Buffy continued her patrol and eventually came across the small crypt in which she had not only first encountered Darla, but also saved Willow and Xander from vampires for the very first time, dragging them into her crazy world. She suddenly started to feel guilty about this and had the urge to walk into it. It didn't surprise her that it hadn't changed since that fateful night. A small smile graced her face when she remembered how the morning afterwards Angel had talked to her for a second time ever in this very crypt. Somehow she could imagine that she was still sixteen and didn't have to deal with all the hurt and damage she was dealing with right now while being here.

Once inside she walked over to the stone coffin in the centre of the room and started to let all the emotions that she was suppressing overflow her. After a minute or so Buffy sensed that somebody else was there. Looking up, she spotted Cordelia standing in the entrance with her arms crossed, clearly studying her while at the same time trying to let her have her space. Damn her and her consideration, Buffy thought. She wished that Cordelia had as little tact as she had back in high school.

"What do you want," Buffy asked her, trying to sound intimidating while being aware that she wasn't, at least not at the moment.

The former cheerleader sighed. "I wanted to talk to you. Alone," she answered.

"Then why didn't you back at the house," Buffy asked angrily. Cordelia looked at her as if she was deeply contemplating if she was going to answer the question or not. "Listen, Cordelia. We two were never really friends and I doubt that we'll become friends now that you've stolen Angel from me..."

"Excuse me," Cordelia asked, sounding like her old high school self for the first time since she had more or less moved into the Summers residence. "I haven't stolen anyone. You and Angel had broken up three years ago. Two years ago you shoved your boyfriend into his face, breaking his heart for being able to move on while he wasn't. Since then you two have spoken twice. So please stop acting as if you two were in an actual relationship that I broke up."

Anger was rising up inside Buffy. How dared she? "Angel and I have something you two will never have!"

"And what is that," Cordelia asked calmly.

Her tone and demeanour annoyed Buffy even more. "We have a connection that is unbreakable. He might think he loves you now but in the end he'll always come back to me," the Slayer yelled, tears starting to stream down her face.

Cordelia simply continued to stand there, looking at Buffy as if she was a zoo exhibit. "Seriously? That's it? Nothing else? Because news update, I already know this. At least the connection part."

This was a surprise to Buffy. "You what?"

"I know that you were his first real love. You two were, or are, like Romeo and Juliet, two star-crossed lovers who the Powers wanted to meet."

"The Powers?"

"Has Angel never told you how he first met you? Not how you two met, but he first saw you?"

Buffy shook her head. Where was this going?

"One of their messengers named Whistler pointed you out to him. He was an even more broken man than he had been after he had turned back from being Angelus four years ago. And he fell in love with you on first sight."

"He did," Buffy asked in a small voice. She felt hope creeping up in her, but also shame for not knowing this before now. And with the shame came the question how and why Cordelia knew.

"Yes. And that is why you two will always have a connection. But it is also the reason why you two will never work out as a romantic couple."

This threw Buffy for a loop. "What," she asked confused. How could they never work out if the Powers were on their side, she asked herself.

"Buffy, have you ever read Romeo and Juliet?"

"Of course I have," Buffy protested.

"And did you think that it was love story?"

"Of course it is," the blonde replied, getting more and more confused by this conversation.

"And that's where you're wrong. It's a tragedy, a cautionary tale about how senseless feuds will destroy innocent lives."

"Yeah, the lives of two lovers!"

Cordelia nearly had to laugh. "You think Romeo and Juliet were in love? They were teenagers that had their first crush. Don't tell me you hadn't had a crush, even before Angel, and that in that moment you didn't think that this person was the one? That there really was nothing more important than having this one person look at and talk with you?"

Buffy wanted to refute her but couldn't. There had been the one and other crush while she was still at Hemery High, and then there had been of course Owen at the start of her time at the Sunnydale High. Not to even mention her short-lived relationship with Oliver at the start of her Slayer career.

When Buffy couldn't refute her, Cordelia continued; "That what was Romeo and Juliet were about. A couple of teenagers that had a crush on each other that was so strong that they believed they were in love. And that belief, coupled with their families' senseless feud, led to their deaths."

"What does that have to do with me and Angel?"

"Everything. You're Juliet, he's Romeo. You two were just as infatuated with each other as these two characters were. You felt a connection to each other, shared even some interests, and maybe, just maybe, if the circumstances would've been different, there could've been a chance for you two working out. But the circumstances weren't different. Just as with Romeo and Juliet there were too many things that got in the way, and in the end one of you died. Sure, Angel came back, but I was there. I might not longer have been a Scoobie but even I could see the futility of you trying to make it work again. Because your relationship wasn't built on friendship and trust, I mean how could it without you two really knowing each other? Hell, the two of you didn't really knew yourselves back then!"

Buffy wanted to say something, to argue back, to refute her, but she couldn't. She somehow couldn't come up with any real reason for why Cordelia was wrong. The former cheerleader used the same line of logic Angel had used three days ago. She couldn't argue with him then just as she couldn't argue with Cordelia now.

"Angel and I have a connection you two never had. Never will have. We know each other. Really know each other. We trust each other more than we ever trusted anybody else. What you two had was a teenager love, the kind of love in which you're in love with the image of the other that you've created in your mind instead of the actual person."

The anger Buffy had felt was coming back again, and this time it was coming back with a vengeance. "How dare you!? Angel and I..."

"... know each other? Seriously? Do you even know his favourite author? His favourite musician? His favourite treats? His favourite actor? Or favourite movie? Or why he likes all of these things? Let alone serious personal history stuff that goes beyond the basics that any Watcher could look up in these past journals of theirs?"

Buffy didn't have an answer for these questions, prompting her to ask herself why she didn't know the answer.

"You don't. And the reason why you don't is that you were happy with having Angel just being there. And he was happy about it because it made him feel welcomed and wanted. He was willing to play your doormat because it was such an improvement from where he came from, and being attracted to you of course also played a role. But what you never made him be, made him do, was being himself, rediscovering himself, letting the man hiding behind his mask of a tortured soul out again, or did you?" Cordelia was clearly getting angry and more emotionally involved in this.

"He wasn't my doormat," was all Buffy could respond with.

Cordelia laughed a hollow, condescending laugh. "Seriously? That was all he was. And as I said that was all he wanted to be because he was so infatuated by you that all he wanted to do was be close to you. Of course he was also afraid of rediscovering himself and of what might just happened if he did let loose once in awhile instead of constantly brooding. And instead of seeing that he needed somebody or something to get him stop brooding before he might become seriously depressed you just let him be. Either because you never realised that there could be more to him, or you just didn't want to. You simply wanted him the way you imagined him to be not who he really was."

"That's not true!"

"Yes it is and you know it," Cordelia said and walked over to her all important while continuing to keep her arms crossed. "And you want to know why? Because you and I weren't that different."

"What?" Buffy couldn't believe this accusation.

"We were both teenagers, and like all teenagers we both mainly cared about ourselves. And before you say anything, wasn't that the main reason for your arguments with Giles back then? You wanting to have a normal life besides slaying? Well, guess what – that is you putting your own self-interest above your duty. Only I wore my selfishness on my sleeves unlike you. You hid it behind your heroine alter ego. Because that's who you were and are, a heroine."

"I'm not a heroine," Buffy replied, unsure of how to take this out of nowhere compliment.

"Of course you are. Why do you think Angel was so attracted to you? Why Xander was? Why several other guys in school were? Why Spike is now? You attract guys left and right not only because you're actually pretty good looking, not as well as me but still very good looking. No, you attract them because you project strength and leadership. You're a born hero. And that is why you never really get called on still being a self-centred teenager that wants everything to go her way and who gets a mental breakdown if it doesn't."

Buffy didn't even knew why she did it, what exactly about Cordelia's words had irked her so much that she resulted to it, but she hit her. Cordelia was knocked to the ground.

"Hit a nerve," Cordelia asked and stood up. "This is exactly what I've been talking about."

Buffy swung at her again, but this time Cordelia blocked her punch. Buffy tried to hit her again, and again Cordelia blocked the attempt. A fight started, a fight that Cordelia didn't even try to win. She was simply blocking and evading Buffy's punches and kicks that were becoming more and more erratic. "Fight back," Buffy demanded, but Cordelia didn't.

The fight went on for several minutes until Buffy started to break down. It was like she was having an epiphany. She was starting to swing and kick without any aim behind it before she started to cry. She stopped her fighting all together and simply broke down. She realised that Cordelia had baited her and that she had fallen for it. As she was kneeling on the floor crying she felt Cordelia hugging her, telling her that everything was fine.

"Why," Buffy asked her.

"Because you needed to hear all of this, and none of the others were willing to tell you," Cordelia answered and pulled back, her look telling Buffy that she was asking for forgiveness. "I meant what I said, Buffy. We both have something special with Angel but the special thing you have with him is in the past. You can still have something special with him and that is being his friend, if you think you two can be that."

"Do you think we could," Buffy asked her.

Cordelia shrugged. "I don't know. In truth I kinda doubt it. I mean, how often do exes become close friends afterwards?" Buffy let her head fall. This was not the answer she wanted to hear. "But you could prove me wrong," Cordelia added. "Considering us living in L.A., and you living in Sunnydale, I doubt it would be a close friendship, but you could be friends. And the truth is, I'd like to be your friend as well Buffy."

Now this was a surprise for the Slayer. "You would?" Cordelia nodded. "Why?"

"I already told you."

Buffy wrecked her brain but failed to come up with an explanation.

"I also meant what I said about you being a hero," Cordelia said. "Because you are."

"You really think so?"

"Yes."

Buffy let out a hollow laugh. "Some hero I am. Sitting at the floor of a crypt being consulted by my old school rival while crying over you having the relationship with my ex-boyfriend I wish I had while realising what a bitch I was."

Cordelia suddenly laughed. Really laughed. Not some hollow, empty or condescending laugh, but genuine laughter. "And you're facing it. You know how much courage that takes? Believe me, I'm talking out of experience."

"Wouldn't that make you a hero?"

Cordelia shrugged. "Angel seems to think so, and so does Fred, but I don't know. I mean I don't think I would've gotten through or past my problems if it hadn't been for my friends helping me."

"Do you think I would've managed to even get through high school without Willow and Xander at my side," Buffy asked her in response. "So according to your logic, you're a hero as well."

Cordelia avoided her gaze and slightly blushed if Buffy could see it correctly. "I'm not."

Buffy didn't believe what was happening right now. "I don't believe it. Cordelia Chase not taking a compliment."

Cordelia shrugged. "I guess I'm just not comfortable thinking of myself as a hero. I see myself more as the sidekick."

"Let me guess, you see Angel as the hero you're sidekicking for?" Cordelia nodded. "Well, according to you he used to be my sidekick. When he can be a hero on his own, why can't you?"

Cordelia laughed again. "I don't know. It's just... I never pictured myself as the hero. Then again I also never pictured myself as a mother, and look at me now."

"And you're a pretty good one," Buffy said, her heart breaking again by saying these words, admitting this out loud for the very first time.

"You think?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah. I mean you clearly love Connor, and you gave up everything you had back home for him by coming here. I... I don't know if I could have done that, him being Darla's son and all..."

Cordelia's face suddenly became sad. It was as if the happiness had been sucked out of her. "I'd do anything for Connor. Or Angel," she said.

"Then why the sad face?"

Cordelia sighed. "Back then Angel had been obsessed with Darla. He wanted to save her, and when that failed he wanted to destroy her. He thought he needed to go all dark, getting in touch with Angelus to do so. So he fired us since he knew we weren't going to allow that."

Buffy gasped, never having heard of this before. "So how come..."

"He slept with her? He went on some suicide mission to kill one of the Senior Partners visiting Earth, only to discover the source of their power were negative human emotions and that as long as those existed the Senior Partners would exist, and with them of course Wolfram & Hart."

"So they're undefeatable," Buffy realised.

Cordelia nodded. "He got depressed and suddenly Darla showed up at his doorstep. Guess what happened?"

"They had sex," Buffy replied in a small voice, not really liking this story herself.

"Yes, and instead of Angel losing his soul, like Darla hoped her would, he had an epiphany about being evil to fight evil wasn't going to work, and that since the Senior Partners were eternal the goal couldn't be to defeat them but simply to help people and be a good person. He came back to us and begged for our forgiveness, which we weren't easy to give, especially not me."

"Really?"

"Yes. And no. It was complicated. I mean, I was really mad at him for what he did, for once even threatening me during this beige period, but at the same time I really wanted to forgive him. I wanted my best friend back, and maybe there were already some romantic feelings at play that I wasn't aware of at the time. All I know is that I just wanted him to be part of my life again but that I was also really mad at him for throwing me away like that for Darla."

Buffy could hear the sadness in Cordelia's voice. "I don't think he would now," was all she could offer to the other woman. While she was listening to Cordelia telling what had happened with her and Angel in the last two years, she had to think about what Angel had said to her three days ago about them no longer trusting each other after Angelus. As much as she hadn't wanted to admit it, she knew that Angel had been correct. It had taken her way too long, and too much distance, to learn to trust him again. He and Cordelia didn't seem to have had the same problem after he had gone dark.

Cordelia smiled. "I know. When Darla had come back pregnant and then tried to bite me Angel nearly staked her in rage, not knowing what would've happened to the baby if he did. And despite everything I'm really grateful for him to not have done that."

"I can imagine. I mean otherwise there might be no Connor."

"I don't even want to think about that," Cordelia admitted, obviously being close to tears. "You know back then he had told me that he hadn't slept with Darla. And I can't really be mad at him for not telling the truth, but it still hurts. Nor can I be mad at him for sleeping with her because it gave us Connor, but it still hurts you know? And I don't even know why. We weren't even close to dating back then," she explained

"Because you wish you had been, and you wish you were Connor's biological mother," Buffy offered before she even knew what she was saying. Where was that bit of wisdom coming from, she was asking herself. "Or it simply could be because it reminds you of his betrayal," she added hastily.

"Guess you're right with both ideas," Cordelia whispered. "I love Connor, I love him like my own son, hell he is my son. When I look at him I don't see another woman's child, I see my own. I don't care about him not looking like me, he's still my boy and always will be. It's just... I don't want to replace Darla for him."

"I... I don't really know what to say," Buffy admitted.

Cordelia suddenly laughed. "Not blaming you. And I'm not here to talk about that to be honest."

"Then why are you here?"

"To talk to you about Angel."

"But why here? Why not at the house?" Cordelia didn't answer and just raised her eyebrows instead. Buffy wondered what that was about. "What?"

"Seriously? Do I've got to spell it out for you?"

"Looks like it," Buffy said annoyed.

"I kinda expected the reaction I got from you."

Buffy looked like a deer in headlights, and she knew it. "You knew I was going to hit you?"

Cordelia shrugged. "I knew you had to loose some steam, and I might not know you as well as the others but I do know you well enough to know that you might resolve to violence to do so."

Buffy felt ashamed. She knew that Cordelia was right about this, and she didn't want to be that kind of person who turns to violence to solve all her problems. "Am I really that person," she asked herself out loud.

"Sometimes," Cordelia answered. "At other times you can be very understanding and non-violent."

"Sounds a bit schizo if you ask me," Buffy joked.

"Everybody got more than one side to their personality," Cordelia said, shrugging.

"When did you become the wise one," Buffy asked with a bit of laughter in her voice.

"I'd say it kinda comes with the territory of being a private investigator, or wanting to be an actress, to be able to read people."

"Oh, so you still want to be an actress," Buffy asked surprised.

Cordelia shook her head. "Nope. That was the old me. I mean it's not like there isn't some part of me that wouldn't like having a life without the supernatural while being famous, but that's no longer the whole me as a person." She paused, clearly thinking about something. "I've only told Angel this and nobody else, and I want you to keep it to yourself, okay?"

"Okay," Buffy replied, unsure of what was coming.

"You know that I'm half-demon now." It wasn't a question but Buffy still nodded. "I was turned on my 21st birthday when my visions were killing me. But that was not the original deal the Powers gave me. Originally they offered me to turn back time, to give me a normal life, a life in which I hadn't run into Angel three years ago but into a talent agent instead, leading to me becoming a famous television star," Cordelia explained.

"Then why are you here," Buffy asked confused.

Cordelia smiled. "Like I said that's no longer me. I liked it, sure, but I felt like something was missing. And it wasn't just Angel, it was also my ability to help people, to save them. And when I discovered what happened to Angel and the others, and believe me it wasn't nice, I told the Powers that I didn't want that life. I took the visions back and convinced them to turn me into a half-demon, paying the ultimate price."

"How so?"

"I'll never be human again, or at the very least not without making another deal with them. I might have visions until the day I die, meaning that I'll never be able to have a normal job or a normal relationship without them possibly interrupting it. They made it clear that I'd never be able to have a family."

"Wow."

"Yeah, I know. Joke's on them though, isn't it? One of the reasons why I made that deal was to not give up the family I already had, despite not wanting to admit it back then."

"Why not? I mean why didn't you want to admit these feelings to yourself?"

Cordelia once again studied Buffy with her eyes, which annoyed the Slayer slightly, but she wanted to know why Cordelia had denied her feelings for Angel for so long apparently even to herself. "I didn't admit that I was in love with Angel, or that I've started to see Connor as my own son, because of you," she finally said.

"Why," Buffy asked again.

"Seriously? Just months prior your death had been enough sent Angel on a soul searching trip to Sri Lanka. In my mind you were still all he could think about, at least in the terms of having any kind of romantic relationship. That's why whenever Angel was trying to tell me how he felt I assumed that he simply meant as a friend. Do you've any idea how that felt? Hearing the man you love telling you that he loves you, but you assume that he means just as a friend?"

"Kinda," Buffy answered. "I think I felt a bit like that when Angel told me he loved me but only as a friend a couple of days ago." She fell silent before adding an "I'm sorry".

"For what?"

Buffy swallowed. "For making Angel's life miserable, and yours as a result as well," she offered.

Cordelia smiled. "I don't think you actually had any control over that. Especially not the me falling in love with Angel part."

"You really love him, don't you?"

Cordelia simply nodded with a far-away look on her face and loving smile that told Buffy everything she needed to know. Cordelia was in love with Angel, it wasn't just some trick as she had originally feared and hoped at the same time. She had given up everything for Angel, for his fight, and she didn't regret it. Buffy didn't know if she'd have been able to make that choice, and while it pained her to not know this it did make it easier to accept that the woman sitting next to her might really be the right woman for Angel.

"I think that should settle the question if you're a hero or not. Only a real hero would give up a normal life to fight evil," Buffy said and got up from the ground. "And as much as I enjoy this talk, I think I'm ready to continue it at a more comfortable place. Plus I don't want to get ambushed here."

Cordelia laughed and got up as well. "Good idea. Only that you won't have to worry about an ambush."

"Why not?"

"Because it seems that I was followed," Cordelia replied with a grin. Before Buffy could ask her what she meant the former cheerleader was shouting for Angel to come out.

Buffy was surprised when Angel entered the crypt. She used to be able to sense his presence and now she hadn't even been aware of him standing outside. Cordelia on the other hand had been able to sense him. If Buffy had needed any proof for the connection the two had formed, this was it.

"Hi," he offered. She had never seen him quite like that. He didn't look sad or broken, more embarrassed and a little bit ashamed.

Cordelia on the other hand crossed her arms and walked over to him. "Didn't I tell you to stay with Connor, Mister," she asked teasingly.

Angel opened his mouth but no coherent sentence came out. Instead he stumbled over his own words, trying to somehow explain himself. "I was... I mean... It took you so long and I... I just wanted to check up on you... I mean..."

"You followed us," Cordelia finished for him. Buffy could see that she was teasing him but Angel seemingly didn't.

"I didn't," he defended himself. "I just..."

"You followed my smell, didn't you," Cordelia asked, and Angel nodded all while looking like a puppy that was just shouted at. "You know that is kinda creepy." Angel looked down, clearly ashamed. Buffy wanted to tell Cordelia to cut it out, but then she added a "Dorcula" to it which immediately caused Angel to look up again to protest that he wasn't a dork. This in turn caused Cordelia to laugh, and suddenly both were laughing.

"Inside joke," Buffy asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable and as if she was intriguing on a private moment.

"Kinda," Cordelia said in response and then stroked Angel's cheeks. "You need to stop worrying so much. I can take care of myself. Plus, it isn't like I was out alone," she told him.

"I know," Angel sighed. Having his hands in his pockets he did look adorable, Buffy thought, and a sudden pain in her chest reminded her that she wasn't the one that made him look like this. She didn't longer have this kind of power over him. And she actually had to ask herself if she ever had. Sure, she had caused Angel to look like a lost puppy, but with the perspective of hindsight she had to admit that it had looked more pained than adorable.

"So why were you sitting here," Angel asked them suddenly.

"We were just talking," Cordelia answered and looked at Buffy. The Slayer caught her glance and immediately understood what she was telling her with that look – the details of their talk would remain among themselves. She was extremely grateful for that, and it made her think that maybe she and Cordelia could become friends despite her relationship with Angel.

"About what," Angel wondered.

"Girls stuff," Buffy and Cordelia answered in unison, causing both of them to laugh, especially after seeing Angel's puzzled expression. "We were sorting out our differences," Cordelia assured him.

"Yeah, we're all good now," Buffy added, hoping that this was true.

Angel looked at Cordelia and she assured him that Buffy was telling the truth while rubbing his arm. "But there's actually something else that I wanted to discuss with both of you," Cordelia then said.

"Okay," Angel replied slowly.

"We need to do something. Just sitting around in the basement the entire time isn't going to solve any of our problems, and given that the house is going to be overrun by wedding guests this weekend...," Cordelia said.

"Spike would probably let you stay at his crypt," Buffy interjected.

Angel snarled. "The last thing I want is to stay at Spike's place," he said.

Cordelia continued to rub his arm. "And I don't think we should."

"You don't," Angel asked her hopefully.

"Nope. I actually think we should stay at the house and become wedding guests."

"What," Buffy and Angel asked in unison.

Cordelia smiled insecurely. "I know from Anya that a lot of the guests are going to be demons. I'd bet that some of them have at least heard of Sahjhan, and if only one of them knows more about him it'd be worth the risk of exposing ourselves."

"But...," Angel started but Cordelia stopped him with one look.

"No buts here, Mister. How the hell are we supposed to ever get rid of Holtz, or scare Wolfram & Hart away from Connor if we continue to hide away? I don't want our son to grow up hiding his entire life," Cordelia argued earnestly, her voice nearly breaking at the end.

Buffy knew that once Cordelia had said "our son" that Angel wasn't going to argue with her. She also knew that the seer was correct. They had to do something and become proactive themselves, otherwise their enemies were going to come for them with them unprepared, or the three might be stuck in her basement – and at least when Connor was old enough to go to school that was going to be a problem.

"You're right," Angel admitted with a sigh. "But maybe we should discuss this somewhere more private and, well, less depressing?"

The other two agreed and the three left the crypt together, walking back to the Summers residence in comfortable silence. An hour ago that wouldn't have been imaginable to Buffy but now, after she and Cordelia had their heart to heart, she could actually stand to be near the two of them. And being close to them meant observing them. There was something about the way they moved, looked at each other, touched each other, that made them seem completely in synch. She remembered how tense Angel could get when they had been together and she had tried to be as close to him as Cordelia was right now, but none of that was visible now. He seemed completely relaxed around her. It stung, Buffy had to admit, that Cordelia had managed to pierce through his armour while she hadn't, but she knew that she had to accept it and that she wanted Angel to be happy, and it seemed that Cordelia was making him exactly that.


	8. Making Plans

Spike stood in the darkest corner of the living room, trying to look bored. The Slayer had called them all together for some important meeting which he assumed was about the wedding. He was still working on getting a date for it. Not that he really needed one but he wanted to make Buffy jealous, assuming that he actually could achieve this goal. Angel returning and her being all jealous about his relationship with the cheerleader chit had seriously dampened Spike's spirits and hope that the two of them might get back together, this time in a real relationship.

Angel and Cordelia themselves were sitting on the couch with Connor on their laps. Spike hated to admit it but he actually wanted to spent some time with the little guy. He was family after all, and despite him and Angel hating each other they still had this weird bond. He also had to admit that Cordelia had peaked his interest. Not in the way Buffy had, not even close, but he could see what Angel might see in her. And he was definitely glad that she kept Angel's attention away from the Slayer. But Spike did wonder how long that would last, and was afraid that the longer Angel stayed in Sunnydale he would start to switch back into his old behaviour and just have eyes for Buffy, deciding to make her the mother of his child instead.

Buffy and Anya were the last ones to arrive. And it was quite fortunate that they came when they did, or otherwise Spike would've had to ignore another migraine for slapping Xander who had been quite nervous about his fiancé not being there already. But the vampire's relief over the appearance of the two women was immediately replaced with concern when he noticed Buffy smiling at Angel, and that he was smiling back. In his concern Spike nearly missed how Cordelia and Buffy also exchanged smiles. What was that about, he asked himself.

"Is this about the wedding," Tara asked. She was kneeling on the floor in front of Angel and Cordelia and had made faces to Connor until just now.

"More or less," Buffy answered. "I had a talk with Angel and Cordelia last night," she announced, and that definitely surprised Spike and the others. "We all agreed that we need to take action on this thing if we don't want Connor to grow up living in my basement."

"He can have my room," Dawn quipped, causing Spike to snort with amusement. Buffy herself glared at her sister while Angel and Cordelia laughed. This was a weird sight for Spike. He never had seen Angel laugh. He had seen Angelus laugh, but due to Angelus being pure evil he had never laughed like Angel was laughing now, so it wasn't the same thing. It was a weird sight and experience for Spike to take in.

"Nice gesture, but not what we were thinking about," Cordelia told the teenager.

Buffy nodded. "We decided, and I already talked with Anya about this, that the wedding would be the perfect opportunity to get some information on this Sahjhan guy."

"Hey, it's not just her wedding," Xander protested, but he immediately shut up when Anya and Buffy looked at him with fury in their eyes.

"I doubt that asking a few questions to the right guests is going to ruin the wedding," Willow argued.

"Correct," Buffy said and then continued, "but that's not everything. We need to figure out how to get rid of Holtz and Wolfram & Hart."

"Great idea, only that these guys have been trying this since way longer than us," Xander argued.

Spike hated moments like these – moments in which Harris made a decent point and he found himself agreeing with the moron.

"Holtz shouldn't be too difficult to deal with," Buffy said. "He's just one man. There're definitely ways to make him back off. It's Wolfram & Hart that poses the real problem."

"There might be something that could scare them off," Angel offered.

"And that would be," Buffy asked.

Cordelia and Angel exchanged some looks, having an entire conversation with their eyes. Spike looked at Buffy to see how she was reacting to this. When it had happened in the night of their arrival she was clearly hurt and extremely jealous over the ability of the two to speak without using any words, or even gestures. But this time Spike noticed that Buffy actually looked more anxious than anything else, clearly willing to get a fast answer.

"You," the two lovers finally said in unison to the surprise everybody. "At least they're afraid of Faith, in large parts due to her being a Slayer," Angel added as explanation.

There was a silence in the room that was somewhere between depressed, confused, and hopeful. Spike didn't really knew what to make of it. He didn't want to risk Buffy's life or well-being to save Angel's child. Even though Angel and Connor were family, Buffy was the woman he loved, the woman he had been willing to stake Drusilla for, he knew that he'd go to the end of the world and back for her, and he definitely was putting her well-being above that of everybody else's, including his own, with the sole exception of maybe Dawn's.

"So, what now? Are we going to have Buffy go up to them and tell them to leave Connor alone," Xander asked half-jokingly, probably just to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Wouldn't really be too impressive. Her taking out one of their SWAT teams on the other hand...," Cordelia replied, letting her reply trail off in the end to underscore the point she was making.

"A SWAT team," Dawn asked shocked.

"It's not like I haven't fought some evil armies before," Buffy simply said.

"The hell you have," Spike suddenly said, finally partaking in the conversation. "At least not alone. And I highly doubt that these lawyer guys use your standard human SWAT team with standard tech." He knew that he was losing his cool here and that the others were bound to notice, but he didn't care. And he knew that he could count on the other Scoobies to back him up on not wanting Buffy to face a supernatural SWAT team on her own.

Buffy herself stared at Spike as if he had just done something horribly wrong. "I have," she insisted.

"Never alone," Spike argued back.

"And I won't this time," Buffy said. It was clear that she meant the Scoobies, together with Angel and Cordelia, helping her, but there was something in her eyes, Spike noticed. He was certain that she was begging him to be by her side throughout this, causing him to sigh in frustration. "Damn it, Buffy," he cursed. "Fine, we'll take on one of these bloody SWAT teams."

"We," Angel asked surprised.

Spike looked at him with disgust. "If she does this, we do it. I thought you guys used to be Scoobies as well," he spat.

"I hate to say it, but blonde's right. If Buffy goes to take these guys on, we'll have her back," Xander added in.

"Guys," Buffy interrupted. "I never doubted that you guys would have my back and come rushing in when things get tough, but thanks anyway."

"No problem, Buff," Xander said with a grin that nearly made Spike roll his eyes.

"So how are we going to do this? Are we going to wait until after the wedding and then all travel down to Los Angeles? Or are we going now," Spike asked.

"We aren't going to them. They'll be coming to us," Buffy said, crossing her arms to show that she was serious.

"And why would they do that? They don't even know that Dead Boy and his kid are here," Xander asked.

"They'll be at our wedding," Anya chimed in, smiling up at Harris, who looked at her in shock. "And they'll be your guests," she then added.

"What," was all the poor guy could say to this. Spike had to smirk, he couldn't help it, seeing Harris in any kind of trouble kinda made him happy, and judging by the looks on Angel and Cordelia's faces they had to try hard to keep their faces straight, so he clearly wasn't alone in his dislike for the guy.

"They'd seriously stick out among my guests, plus you actually know them, or at the very least Cordelia, from high school. It just makes more sense for them to be your guests," Anya explained in her typical direct way.

Xander sighed and looked pleadingly at Buffy, but she was clearly having none of it. She continued to keep her arms crossed and simply raised an eyebrow at him, challenging him to say something.

"Do you really think this is wise," Xander then asked defeated.

"No," Cordelia answered, "but it's our best shot to ask questions ourselves, and to announce our presence here."

"Why would you want to do that? I thought you guys were here to hide," Tara asked.

"Because once they know we're here they'll come to Sunnydale, to our turf, where we can lay a trap for them," Angel explained.

"Exactly," Buffy said to this, causing Spike to groan. "What a surprise, Goldilocks agreeing with Captain Forehead," he said.

"Actually this was Cordelia's idea," Buffy said in response to that comment.

"Oh great, of course it had to be Queen C that ruins my wedding," Xander complained. "And since when are you on her side, Buff?"

"Since we had an adult conversation last night," Buffy replied, clearly annoyed. "And I don't really like this idea either."

"Nor do I," Angel said, just to clarify his stance on the issue. As if it mattered, Spike thought. Angel was truly love's bitch just as he was. Cordelia wanted something he was going to do it. Simple as that.

Xander groaned and turned to his fiancé. "And you seriously agreed to this?"

"Of course I have," Anya answered. "Look at this cute little baby in their laps. I know you've been avoiding it ever since they got here, but just look at him," Anya ordered him. Xander sighed dramatically, but did as he was told. "And now tell me that this baby doesn't deserve our help."

Xander simply stared at her in disbelieve. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Anya said, crossing her arms, challenging him to disagree with her.

"He's the son of two vampires!"

"And he's completely normal. He drinks formula like a normal baby, he can touch a cross, doesn't have fangs, he can even go out into the sunlight, and most important of all, he got a heartbeat," Anya argued back, clearly frustrated with her fiancée.

"Yeah, for now. But what is in the future? How do we know that he won't grow up to become some kind of human-vampire hybrid!"

"Even more reason to keep him safe," Tara suddenly said which made everybody looked at her. "I mean, well, if he is going to grow up to become a... a hybrid then it would be better if he grew up with parents who could teach him how to handle these powers, and... and raise him so that he won't misuse them."

Damn it, Spike thought. Why had this witch to come up with such a good argument? As much as he hated Angel, he just somehow knew that the guy was going to be a great father.

"And you seriously think these two can do that," Xander asked.

"If you had spent any moment in the last three days with them instead of avoiding this house completely, despite wedding preparations to be made I might add, you would've already caught on to the fact that they're great parents," Willow told him angrily, leaving Xander to stand there looking like a goldfish, and suddenly shooting a pleadingly glance at Spike.

"If we want to protect the child, taking him to a wedding with that many demons might be a bad idea," was all he could come up with.

Cordelia sighed. "We know. That will be our biggest problem. When we go we'll have to take Connor with us since we can hardly keep him in the basement all the day..."

"...but if we do that there will be questions, and even if we just say that he's our son there'll be people who'll figure out who I am, or might even know it already, and his secret is out in the open again," Angel finished.

"So," Xander said, clapping his hands, suddenly looking happy, "looks like the plan's off then."

Buffy gave him the stinky eye and his happy look immediately disappeared again. "I'll pretend that he's my cousin or something, and that Dawn and I are babysitting if I need to," she said.

Suddenly Spike had to laugh. "Seriously? That is a pretty dumb idea if I don't say so myself."

Buffy narrowed her eyes and stared at him, clearly wanting an explanation.

"One, you don't have any relatives living in or around Sunnydale, and everybody knows it. Two, who'd agree to babysit while hosting a wedding? Three, what happens when the little guy only lets himself be calmed down by mommy or daddy over there? Four, any kind of slip up while he's around would immediately expose him. Five..."

Buffy raised her hand to make him stop. "Okay, okay, we got the point." She was clearly annoyed with the fact that he bested her. This was enough to make Spike smirk since he liked the fact that he could get under her skin like that. "So, what's your idea?"

"Not have him at the wedding," Spike simply answered.

"And with that neither Dead Boy and Queen C," Xander added in.

"My parents," Willow suddenly said, making all the others look at her in confusion. "I mean, we've become a little bit closer since I've come out as gay, and I think they might agree to babysit for an afternoon if I asked them."

"And why would they," Xander wanted to know, obviously desperate to find an excuse to not have his ex and the guy he had hated since high school at his wedding.

"Because who could refuse this cute face," Willow replied and took Connor out of his parents' lap into her arms to show him to Xander. "If we tell them that the babysitter jumped off in the last minute, and that we really need their help, they might agree."

Cordelia and Angel's faces lit up with so much joy that it nearly made Spike hurl. "Thank you, Willow," Cordelia exclaimed happily.

"Great, after this is taken care of – when are we going shopping," Buffy suddenly asked.

"Somebody take note, Buffy's more excited about shopping than Cordelia," Angel commented with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Cordelia rammed her elbow into his ribs as a response. "Hey," he protested but immediately shut up when his girlfriend raised an eyebrow at him. "Tomorrow evening?"

"The wedding is in two days," Anya objected. "And tomorrow we have a rehearsal dinner. You'll have to have your suit and dress by then."

"I know, but the closer to it we can make it, the better," Angel argued before looking at Cordelia for backup.

The former cheerleader sighed in frustration, making Spike smirk. She clearly wanted to get out, and he was looking forward to her telling the big poof off.

"I'm sorry honey, but Anya's right. You'll have to do it today."

Angel's reaction to this was a deep and frustrated sigh which made it impossible for Spike to not show how much he was enjoying his grandsire being coerced into this.

"Fine. When do we go? And you," he addressed Spike, "wipe that smile off your face."

"Sorry, Peaches, but you having to suffer is as close to experiencing a sunny day as I can get at the moment."

Angel groaned. "Whatever." Turning back to Cordelia. "So we'll have to go this evening?"

Cordelia confirmed this with a nod. "And don't even think about bailing. You'll stay until the very end."

"As if you'd let me come back before you had me gave opinion on every single item you find," Angel muttered loud enough for everyone to hear, causing Cordelia to smack him in his ribcage again. Judging by the look on her face she wasn't really angry at him, more annoyed, which in turn annoyed Spike. Couldn't these two lovebirds fight at least once? Or did they not want to do so in front of Buffy?

"What? I'm just stating facts," Angel moaned, defending himself.

"Well, good to see that there's at least some of the old Cordelia left in there," Buffy quipped, smiling happily, which irked Spike. Hopefully the Slayer didn't see this as an opportunity to get Angel back, he thought.

"As if you were that much better," Angel muttered barely audible, but Buffy must have picked it up because she let out a loud "excuse me?" as a response. Angel just glared at her before finally saying, "Seriously?"

The Slayer simply had her arms crossed, urging her ex to say something that might get him in trouble.

"You know what, I'll take it back. You were worse," he said.

"What? I never forced you to go to the mall," Buffy protested.

Angel looked at Cordelia. "And you wondered why I only had black clothes," he joked before turning back to Buffy. "You simply showed me what you bought whenever I came over."

"And? What's so bad about that," Buffy asked, seriously lost. Willow, Tara, Anya, and Dawn all shrugged, causing Spike to groan. "Objection," Spike, Xander, and Angel answered in unison.

"What," shot the women back.

"If you take us to the mall, we could potentially tell you that we don't like what you're going to buy," Xander explained.

"Since when do you do that," Anya asked confused.

"That's why I said potentially, An," Xander replied a bit smug.

"Yeah, but if you already bought it, what's the point of that," Spike added.

"I hate to agree with these two, but that's exactly my point," Angel said.

"Since when do you tell me that I shouldn't by something for another reason but the price, mister," Cordelia asked.

Angel swallowed. "As Xander said – potentially."

All the women crossed their arms and raised their eyebrows before exchanging one look and saying "men" in unison.

"Looks like we lost this one, guys," Xander said to Angel and Spike, and the two vampires simply nodded.

"As if you ever had a chance," Cordelia joked, a teasing sparkle in her eyes as she once again looked directly at Angel.

This romance was really beginning to get on Spike's nerves. As much as he appreciated it for preventing Buffy from running back to the big poof, he already had enough of having to see Xander and Anya all over each other. He didn't need another couple to do the same, especially not now that he and the Slayer seemed to be further apart than a year ago. How can I make Buffy look at me like this, Spike asked himself. The truth was that he was jealous of Angel and his relationship with Cordelia because it was the kind of relationship he wanted with Buffy. It was just unfair that the big poof was allowed to find happiness despite only being good because of his soul while Spike did good without one, the blond vampire thought. Sure, he had ulterior motives, but he still had become one of the good guys. He had even continued the good fight after Buffy was gone. The truth was that he kinda liked being the hero. It was what made him a man while still being a monster. In his mind that made him better than Angel, only that Buffy somehow couldn't see that.

"Now, before I've got to hurl thanks to you two," Spike said, breaking up the romantic moment, "is there anything else you need me for? I've still got some Six Feet Under episodes to catch up upon," he claimed.

"Seriously," Buffy asked him in near disbelief.

"What? It's a funny show," Spike replied.

"About death," Buffy retorted.

"Actually about undertakers," Xander chimed in, surprising everybody. "What? It's true," he defended himself.

"Doesn't really change that the show is about dead people," Buffy argued.

"Yeah, so what? I am a dead person, as some of you in this room like to continue to point out," Spike said. "And aren't these crime shows you Americans are so fond of also about dead people when it comes down to it?"

Buffy tried to argue back but apparently couldn't find a good argument to use since she only opened her mouth and no words came out.

Spike smirked at this. "Looks like I've won this one," he quipped, calling back to their previous argument about clothes. "Now, if there's nothing else, I'll go home, watch the tele for a bit and then check up on my date."

"Your date," Buffy asked in disbelief, and if Spike wasn't wrong, jealousy.

"Yeah, date. I'm invited to the wedding, and I'm going to bring a plus one. Only because you couldn't find someone to go along to a great after reception party doesn't mean the rest of us can't," he told her.

"Who said you're allowed to bring somebody," Xander asked. "I'm still not completely sold on the idea of having you there anyway."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Well, then I'll make it an after ceremony party, if you understand what I mean," he said and then left, not even waiting for a reply. He had achieved his goal, at least judging by the Slayer's look on her face. He had made Buffy jealous and it felt glorious.


	9. A Quiet Night Out

**This is the longest chapter yet, and it had some important story elements to it in the later part. The first two are more character interaction and fluff.**

* * *

Angel, Cordelia, Willow, and Buffy were walking through the Sunnydale mall, hoping to avoid questions about Cordelia's presence. Despite Angel's reservations they all knew that the mall was the last place anybody would suspect him, and most of the people who might recognise him wouldn't hang out there anyway. Cordelia on the other hand was a different matter. She had been well-known back when she still lived here. A lot of former students from their high school were still living in Sunnydale, or had moved back once their dreams in the great wide world had been crushed, and they'd definitely recognise Cordelia. The last thing anyone of them wanted was to ruin the wedding by drawing any of their enemies in too early.

"Okay, first things first, who of you two will go with Angel to get him some new shirts or something, he definitely needs those," Cordelia announced.

"Why aren't you coming with me," Angel asked, nearly pouting.

Cordelia smirked. "Because I've an idea for a surprise for you, so we'll need to split up now," she informed him.

"A surprise," Angel asked, his face lighting up like a kid who just got told that he was going to get an extra ice cream cone.

Cordelia's smirk grew into a wide, brightly shining smile. "Oh yeah. You'll love it, believe me" she replied.

Angel didn't notice Willow slightly blushing at this, but Buffy did. "I'm going to go with Cordelia," she suddenly said. "I need new shoes, and nothing against you Will, but..."

"Cordelia has the better fashion sense," Willow offered.

"Yeah," Buffy replied a bit coyly. "Not that I think you don't have one, just..."

"Buffy, you're about to ramble your way into a hole," Cordelia interrupted her.

"Sorry," Buffy said apologetically.

"No problem, Buffy," Willow assured her. "And you're kinda right," she added, trying to sound like her happy, bubbly self, but failing at this.

"Hey, it's not like any of us dresses like we did in high school," Cordelia said, trying to up the spirit again.

"Yeah, least of all you," Buffy said to this, looking Cordelia up and down. She clearly had changed a lot in her fashion style. She still dressed in sexy clothes but way less revealing than she used to.

"Well, it helps when you don't longer care about the reactions you got from all but one man," Cordelia replied, smiling up at Angel.

The vampire knew that if he was capable of blushing, he'd be right now. "Ahm, okay. Will, why don't we go and get me some new shirts," he asked the witch, who nodded in reply, and the two left for a male fashion store.

"We'll meet here in an hour," Cordelia shouted after them.

Left alone, Buffy immediately turned to Cordelia. "Okay, what's the surprise," she asked her.

Cordelia smirked. "Wait and see. First, we'll now have to get you some shoes, regardless if you need 'em or not."

Buffy sighed but agreed anyway. The two went to a shoe shop and bought two pairs each. What surprised Buffy the most was that they actually enjoyed each other's company. "Okay, what's the surprise," she asked, still smiling from the fun they had spending the better part of the hour trying to find their new shoes.

"Well, we'll have to be fast so I better tell you on the way," Cordelia replied, looking at her watch.

"I doubt they'll complain if we're a few minutes late," Buffy argued.

Cordelia suddenly got a glimmer of mischief in her eyes and told Buffy to simply follow her. "Actually I got two surprises for Angel. One that he'll get today, another someday in the future," she told the Slayer.

Buffy frowned at this. "And you want to buy this present for him now as well?"

Cordelia shrugged. "I don't know when he'll get to see it," she explained as they walked toward a photo studio.

"What are we doing here," Buffy asked.

Cordelia ignored the question and walked right up to the counter instead. "Hello, my name is Cordelia Chase. I know that Willow Rosenberg had given up an order for me here," she told the young man behind the counter.

"I'll take a look," he replied while checking Cordelia out. The seer didn't react to it since she turned her attention back to the surprised looking blonde standing behind her.

"Willow helped you with this?"

Cordelia shrugged. "It wasn't like I could leave the house, was it," she replied. "She's hopefully also helping me with the other surprise, but that can wait for a little bit longer."

"And what would that surprise be," Buffy asked.

"Let's talk about that later," Cordelia replied as the young man at the counter told her that her order was ready.

He got up and quickly went into the back to get the surprise which turned out to be a photo book. "Your husband is a lucky man," he told her and handed over the book.

Cordelia simply smiled, not bothering to correct the young man about Angel, mainly because she wished he was her husband but also because it made him stop undressing her with his eyes. She paid the fee for the book and then left the store with Buffy in tow.

"What is it," the Slayer asked.

Cordelia smiled and opened the book which contained several pictures of her, Angel, and Connor, together or on their own, on some you could even see Willow and Dawn. "You probably picked up on Willow making several pictures of us. After she had made the first one I asked her to just keep making more and to take them here to have this made," Cordelia explained. "I just hope he'll like it."

"I bet he will," Buffy assured her. The Slayer found herself drawn in to look at the pictures. They weren't staged, or at least most of them weren't. These pictures showed Angel and Cordelia being completely natural around each other and with their son. While it hurt her to see Angel this happy with somebody else it also somehow made her want to help them more.

"What are you thinking," Cordelia suddenly asked her.

"So many things," Buffy answered honestly. Cordelia raised an eyebrow in response, encouraging her to continue. "I can't pretend it doesn't still make me jealous that you're the woman that Angel chose, nor can I pretend that it doesn't hurt that Angel managed to find happiness without me, or that he managed to find it at all while I haven't. But... he deserves it. And you, at least this new and improved version of you, deserve it as well."

"Thank you," Cordelia said. "And I'm sorry that this is so hard for you."

Buffy shrugged. "It's not like there's anything you could do about it." Cordelia didn't say anything in response, and Buffy knew why. Cordelia didn't want to hurt her, and neither did Angel, but neither of them could help it that they were totally in love with each other. It was quite a conundrum, and they somehow had to make the best out of it. For Buffy this meant one thing. "Cordelia, or Cordy, I mean, I can call you that, can't I?"

Cordelia smiled brightly. "Of course, Buffy."

"Good," Buffy said and smiled back. "Cordy, when this is over you two are going to go back to Los Angeles, aren't you?"

"I guess. I mean we still got Angel Investigations there. Why?"

"Because I think that with a bit of distance and time it'll be easier for me to deal with this," Buffy explained.

"In other words, you want to get this over with, and kick some evil butt to get rid of us," Cordelia teased.

Buffy giggled. "Yeah, I guess so. And I promise you, I will kick butt. Because I also meant the other thing I said – that you two deserve this. And once I get over this jealousy thing, I'm telling you, neither one of you better hurt the other one."

"Neither one?"

"Yeah. I kinda like the idea of two people from different worlds like you and Angel, or Xander and Anya, finding happiness with each other," Buffy explained.

Cordelia looked at her for a second before saying, "You need it to give you hope to find happiness yourself one day, don't you?"

Buffy nodded, a bit of gloom covering her facial features. "I guess you're right. Just look at me, I had four relationships since I became the Slayer. One went downhill because I had to burn down our school gym and move to Sunnydale. The next one was with Angel, and you know how that ended. Then there was this short stint with Scott which didn't work out because I was still hung up on Angel. And last but not least Riley who left me because he couldn't handle not being as strong as Angel was. I know this sounds selfish, but I guess I'm really more jealous about Angel having you and me not having anyone than, well, you being with Angel instead of me."

Cordelia of course noted the depression that threatened to overtake the blonde and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Buffy, believe me when I tell you that you deserve happiness. After saving the world as often as you did, and even dying to do it twice, I don't think there's anybody in the world that deserves it more."

"Then why do all the others around me find it first? Xander with Anya, you with Angel, and even Willow with Tara, who'll definitely get back together again."

"Buffy, just give it time. And instead of asking yourself why people around you find people to settle down with remember that many people, most people actually, never settle down, or at least not with the right one. I mean my parents were more together because of the money than really loving each other. I'm not saying that there never was a time in which they weren't in love, or that they don't longer like each other, otherwise they'd be probably divorced by now, but I've never seen them as the kind of couple I'd want to become a part of. And you already have something they never had."

"And what would that be?"

"Friends. Real friends who'll never turn their back on you for good, who'll always come back no matter what you fought about."

Buffy contemplated what the former cheerleader had just said. It was true, she, Willow, and Xander had their fair share of fights that had nearly broken up their group more than once, but in the end they always pulled through. Thinking about it caused her to smile. "You know what? You're right. I've something most people will never have, but I still would like to have it all, y'know? Does that make me selfish?"

"Yes, but no more than probably anybody else on the planet," Cordelia answered honestly.

The two women started to laugh. "Look, Angle and Willow are already waiting for us," Buffy said once they calmed down.

"What a surprise," Cordelia replied jokingly as they walked over to the other two.

* * *

Angel and Willow had actually just arrived at their meeting spot as well. It hadn't taken them long to buy the stuff for Angel. Four more button-down shirts, a new sweater, a couple of t-shirts and wife-beaters, two new set of pants, some socks, and underpants. After they had left the store, Willow looked at her watch. "We still got about half an hour. What do you want to do now? Probably just stand here and wait," she asked.

Angel smiled. He had by now gotten used to Willow still getting used to him not longer just sitting around brooding all day. "Actually, since we're already here, why don't we go around a bit? Might buy me some time latter if I already find a good suit now," he said.

Willow just nodded and led Angel away from the photo studio. "You know, I never thought you'd buy all of this," the witch said after a few minutes of silence, pointing to the large bags in Angel's hands.

"We'll probably have to stay here for a few more days, maybe a week or more. Better to have everything I might need at hand," he replied.

The two continued to walk until they reached a jewellery shop. Angel stopped and looked into the shop's window.

"What is it," Willow asked a bit anxious.

Angel suddenly smiled. "You know, since Cordelia's going to get a present for me I think I should get one for her as well," he answered before walking into the shop.

Still a bit surprised by his decision Willow followed him into the store, and immediately spotted Aura, one of the Cordettes, approaching Angel.

"Hello, what can I do for you," she asked him, obviously working at the place.

"Hello, ahm, don't I know you from somewhere," Angel asked a bit confused. He was certain he had seen her face somewhere before.

"I don't think so," Aura answered. "Oh, no, I remember, I've seen you a couple of times at the Bronze a few years ago. You were hanging around with Buffy Summers and her friends. And as I see you're still hanging with one of them. Hi, Willow, how are you," Aura added as she spotted Willow.

"Hi, Aura," Willow replied a bit uncomfortable. She and the Cordettes had never really gotten along. Even when Cordelia had been a member of the Scoobies the two of them had never really been friends. The last week had definitely changed that. But this was different, even though Willow had to admit that Aura had always been one of the nicer members of that group. She had been probably the only one that hadn't gone out of her way to bully Willow and the other so-called losers back then. "Since when do you work here?"

"Llast year. I'm training to become a jeweller myself. What are you up to these days?"

"Oh, I'm still at college. UC Sunnydale," Willow answered.

"Really? I always assumed that you'd be going off to Harvard or something."

"I could've, but Buffy and Oz stayed here, and Xander didn't get into college, so I decided to stay as well."

"How is Oz?"

Willow had a sudden flash of sadness on her facial features and shrugged. "I don't know. He's living in Tibet since about two years now."

"Tibet? He's become a monk?"

"I guess so. We didn't really keep in touch."

"And you? Still seeing Buffy," Aura suddenly asked Angel.

"Ahm, no, we broke up about three years ago," Angel replied before suddenly realised where he had seen Aura before. "Now I remember where I've seen you, and it wasn't at the Bronze. You were one of Cordy's friends at high school. I've seen you in one of her old pictures."

"Yeah, I was. I think I was one of the few with who she kept contact with, at least for some time. We haven't spoken in about a year."

"Well, our job kept us a bit busy," Angel replied.

"Of course, you're Angel! Cordy told me about you. She said that you were the good-looking guy that had only eyes for Buffy," Aura suddenly realised. "How is Cordy?"

A big smile spread across Angel's face. "Very well. I'll tell her that I met you."

"Do that, and tell her to call me again," Aura said. "Now, how can I help you?"

"I'm looking for something for my girlfriend," Angel answered.

"I guess that ain't you," Aura asked Willow.

"Why not," Willow asked back.

"Well, you live in Sunnydale, he in L.A."

Willow smiled her typical happy Willow smile. "You'd be correct. He ain't my type anyway."

"He ain't a musician you mean."

"No, I mean, he's a man," Willow said, enjoying to see the realisation dawning on Aura's face.

"You're a lesbian?"

"Yep."

"Colour me surprised," Aura replied. "So, this lucky lady, what does she like," she asked Angel, turning the conversation back to its original topic.

"Expensive stuff, if I could afford it," Angel replied. "But then again you went to high school with her, so you probably already know that."

Now Aura's jaw actually dropped to the floor. "You're dating Cordy?"

"Yes," Angel replied proudly.

"Damn. I mean, I knew that she wasn't longer pursuing acting and had given up on finding some rich guy, but dating the boss..." Aura commented in disbelief.

Angel shrugged. "What can I say, it wasn't really something anyone of us planned or saw coming."

"Ah, so it was the kind of love that simply happens," Aura said.

"You could say that," Angel replied. "Now back to the present. I thought maybe a pair of earrings or something. As long as it isn't too expensive."

"Of course, Angel, can I say Angel?"

Angel just nodded since he didn't have a last name anyway, and Aura probably knew that he was also Angel to Cordelia so it wouldn't be too clever to introduce himself as Mr. Angel either, he reasoned.

"Okay, what would be the price range you've got in mind?"

"Definitely not above $500. Personally I'd prefer something not above $300," Angel replied.

Aura nodded and led him and Willow to the section with the earrings. "I think we've got some wonderful articles in the price range up to $300, but if Cordelia's taste hasn't changed too much I might recommend to go up to at least $400," she said as she picked up a pair of diamond earrings. "The two big diamonds are actually real, and of reasonable quality. Not too expensive of course. The small ones are fake, otherwise it would definitely break your price limit," she explained.

Angel nodded and let his look drift along the shelves. He looked at a few other items until he found a pair that was just perfect in his opinion. A pair of golden smoky quartz earrings. "I think I'll take those," he said.

"Exactly $399.99. An excellent choice," Aura said, taking the earrings from the shelf and carrying them over to the counter.

"I know. I think they'll match her eyes and hair," Angel replied. Willow looked at him with big eyes, something he of course noticed. "This isn't the first time I bought her jewellery," he told her. "Hell, I bought her an expensive necklace when I came home from Ski Lanka last year, and we weren't even dating then."

"Lucky her," Aura said as she entered the earrings into the till. "Is that all?"

"I think so...," Angel stopped when he spotted a ring. It was a simple white gold ring with a small diamond on top. He looked at the price, and to his delight saw that it only costed about $200. "I'll take that one as well," he said, pointing at the ring.

Both Aura and Willow were quite surprised about this. "Are you sure," Willow found herself asking.

Angel simply smiled. "I don't think I've ever been that certain in my entire life," he replied as he walked over to the ring.

Aura followed him. "Do you know her ring size?"

"I guess 7, maybe 7.5," Angel answered.

Aura walked into the back and came back with the same kind of ring in the right size plus box for it. "Here you go," she said, smiling happily both about the sell and about her old school friend seemingly getting asked the question very soon. "That makes $598.45, and good luck," she said as Angel paid her with his credit card.

"Thank you," Angel answered, putting away the ring in a pocket in his jacket. "It's just lucky that I've got the company credit card on me," Angel joked as he and Willow left the shop.

"Don't you've a credit card on your own," Willow asked.

"As a vampire without a social security number it's a bit hard to open a personal bank account," Angel replied.

Willow nodded, understanding what he meant. "And are you really certain about the, you know, ring?"

"Why? Don't you think she'll like it," Angel asked concerned.

"Oh no, I think she'll love it, especially since it's from you. But, you know, that's an..."

"...engagement ring," Angel finished. "I know. If I were a normal human I'd now say that I just know that Cordelia is the woman I want to spent the rest of my life with. Sadly, I'm not. Nut neither is she, and I want to spent as much of our lives together as possible," he explained.

Willow didn't know what to say, so she simply nodded. Given what she had seen in the last few days she knew that she shouldn't be as surprised as she was right now. The two made a great couple, but the truth was that all of these new informations on them were given to her this fast. First she found out that Angel had a son, then that he and Cordelia were dating, and that Cordelia had taken up the role of Connor's mother in stride, all of which already had taken a few hours of sleep to come to terms with. And now Angel was willing to propose to Cordelia, after only dating her for three weeks. "Angel, I know this isn't my place, but you two have only been together for three weeks. Don't you think this might be a bit, I don't know, fast?"

Angel sighed. "Maybe you're right," he said, sounding defeated. He took the box out of his pocket to look at it. "But I'm not going to ask her right away," he then said. "It's just... when I saw the ring I just had to buy it, you know?"

A small smile spread on Willow's face. "I guess I kinda do," she said. "And I definitely don't want to talk yourself out of proposing to Cordelia, just to make that clear."

"Thanks," Angel said and the two continued their walk. Once they reached their meeting spot he looked at his watch. "We're on time, so where are they?"

Willow shrugged and pretended to look around. She of course had a very good idea where they were, but it was up to Cordelia to give that away. After a minute or two she spotted the two women walking towards them. "There they are," she told Angel.

Angel turned into the direction Willow was pointing in. "Hi there," he said as the two approached. He went over to Cordelia and gave her a peck on the lips. "What you've got there," he asked once he spotted the book she was holding.

Cordelia smiled her million watt smile that warmed Angel's heart and made it want to beat once more, and that also made him fear Angelus being set loose again. "My surprise for you," she said, giving it to him. He opened it, and immediately felt the warmth inside of him spread. "I asked Willow to make a few more pictures and take them here," Cordelia explained. "Do you like it?"

"Like it? I love this," Angel said before kissing his girlfriend again. "I now actually feel like an idiot."

"Why? Because you haven't gotten me anything," Cordelia teased. "That's okay, honey."

Angel looked sheepish at the ground. "Actually, I decided to buy you a present as well," he said and got the earrings out of the bag. "But mine is not even close to as personal as this," he added embarrassed as he handed them over.

Cordelia opened the jewellery box and gasped. "Oh my god, Angel. These are beautiful. Did you really buy them," she asked as she took them out of the box.

"No, I stole them," Angel replied sarcastically, but with a grin on his face.

"How much," Cordelia asked as she continued to eye the earrings.

"About 400."

"What," Cordelia nearly shouted. "Angel... I don't know what to say."

"If you don't like them, I still got the receipt."

"No, I love them, but Angel, you know that you don't have to buy me something this expensive, don't you," Cordelia asked him.

"I know, I... they were just perfect, I mean the colour..."

Cordelia smiled and kissed him, easing his nerves. "Like I said, I love them. But I know how tight you can be with a buck – and that you've been saving to open a college fund for Connor. As much as I love expensive presents, I don't need them. You could buy me a cheap $20 copy of these and I'd still wear them simply because you gave them to me."

Angel was about to reply when he noticed the look on Buffy's face, who looked like she was about to throw up any moment. "Something wrong," he asked her.

"No, just that this was more cheesy than an Hallmark Lifetime movie, and it kinda made me wanna hurl," the Slayer told the couple.

"Sorry," Cordelia replied, while Angel smirked. Not only because he was aware of what Buffy was saying but also because she seriously reminded him of Spike at the moment. As much he wasn't a fan of the idea of his grandchilde and his ex-girlfriend hitting it off, it was interesting to see how much the bleach blond vampire had already rubbed off on her.

"Oh, before I forget it, we've met an old friend of yours at the jewellery," Angel suddenly said.

"Really, who," Cordelia asked.

"Aura," Willow answered. "She's a bit disappointed that you haven't talked to her since about a year."

"Yeah, well, Pylea happened, then, well, Buffy..."

"...died," Buffy finished, hating that people still tried to avoid to mention this. "Guys, I'm back now, and I've no desire to die again anytime soon. Please stop acting like I'm going to have a mental breakdown any moment, okay?"

"Got it," the other three said. "I think you get the gist," Cordelia then said, returning to the previous topic. "How is she? Last I heard from her she was in New York, what is she doing back in Sunnydale?"

"She's working at the jewellery shop, training to become a jeweller herself," Angel answered.

"Really? If we stay longer, I'm definitely going to visit her there. Now, let's get Angel a new suit, not to mention a bunch of new clothes for me," Cordelia declared merrily.

"And the old Cordelia's back," Buffy said with a bit of sarcasm. "Just don't buy so much that it won't longer fit in my basement."

"As if I've got enough money for that," Cordelia countered before leading the foursome to a dress shop where they got herself a dress for the wedding, and then to another men's shop to get Angel a new suit. After that they started to go from shop to shop, trying to find clothes for Cordelia to wear in the coming days besides her old stuff at the Summers residence.

"Wow, you really got stamina when it comes to this," Buffy commented after two hours.

"Well, I've got to find something that looks good and is not too expensive. That alone takes time. Plus it's actually nice to be out of the house again and to just kinda relax, you know?"

"Mmh," Angel groaned, sitting on a chair next to the women's dressing cabinets, by now with five bags standing at his feet.

Before Cordelia could reply, Buffy's beeper started. "What the hell," Buffy asked, taking it from her belt. "Damn, it's Dawn. Something must be wrong at the house," she said as she ran away.

The other three were left standing there, and after exchanging a few worried looks, decided to pack things up and follow her.

* * *

When Buffy arrived at her house she found that a grey demon, apparently covered in metal, was tied up to a chair in her living room, with Spike staring down at him while smoking. "What are you doing here," she asked the blond vampire before realising that the way more important question would have been who the strange demon was.

"Seriously," Spike shot back, clearly thinking the same thing. "I was done with my patrol and decided to check in with Nibblet before going home. I suddenly heard something downstairs and found this guy. We fought, I won, after Tara used some mojo on the guy" Spike reported, the last part rather reluctantly.

"And who is he," Buffy asked.

"He won't tell. Won't you big guy? But given your exoskeleton armour I'd bet mercenary demon. So the more interesting question would be, who do you work for?"

There was no answer from the demon who simply continued to study the pair in front of him. After Buffy had asked him the same question he suddenly said, "I know I shouldn't be surprised about you associating with yet another vampire, Slayer, but really? After a potential Irish-American James Bond now this poor man's Billy Idol impersonation?"

"Okay, one, I'll have you know that Billy Idol stole that look from me, and two, Irish-American James Bond? Seriously? The Big Poof?" Spike was seriously outraged now which both amused Buffy and hopefully scared the intruder.

"Skip," Cordelia suddenly asked, as she walked into the house, followed by Willow and Angel, who was still carrying the bags.

"Hello, Cordelia. Angel, nice to see you too," Skip replied. "Would you please tell them that I work for the Powers and am on your side," he requested.

"He's telling the truth," Angel said.

"Yeah, he's my demon guide."

"Your what," Buffy asked.

"He was the one who turned me into a half-demon," Cordelia explained.

Buffy groaned and went over to Skip to loosen his ties, but Spike stopped her. "If he really worked for the Powers, why did he break into basement, probably using some kind of portal, and then fought me when I caught him? The good guys usually use the door," he asked.

"Actually that is a good point," Buffy admitted and took a step back.

"And how desperate have the Powers become to hire mercenary demons like yourself," Anya asked as she entered the living room.

"How's Dawn," Buffy asked concerned.

"Alright. She's upstairs with Xander and Connor. He says he'd better stay there to keep her from coming downstairs again."

"Good idea," Buffy remarked before turning back to Skip. "Now riddle us this. Why would a mercenary demon who claims to work for the Powers, and who clearly knows these two already, break into my house instead of knocking at the door, asking for them?"

"And how did he come to work for the Powers anyway," Anya chimed in. "I mean, you're a Ailyur demon. You guys aren't really known for your loyalty to the cause."

"A what," the others asked in unison.

"Ailyur. Not very common, especially not in this dimension, but they're pretty well-known as very loyal mercenaries among a wide variety of stronger demons."

"Including the Powers. Now release me," Skip demanded.

"Even if that's true, and right now I'm not convinced it is, that still doesn't answer my question," Buffy countered. She stared at Skip who simply stared back. "Fine, you don't want to answer to me? Spike, take him to your crypt and make him talk," she ordered the blond vampire who smiled devilishly at the demon, clearly looking forward to his chance to beat the crap out of him.

"Buffy, I don't think that's necessary," Cordelia interjected.

"Thank you," Skip said in response to that.

"But it is a good question," Angel then said. "Why did you break in instead of simply asking for us directly?"

"Did you take a good look at me lately," Skip asked back.

Spike snorted. "Yeah, right, because that would have been the problem. This is the Slayer's house, mate. She's dealing with demons all the time. Her housemate here is a Wiccan, I'm a regular house guest and a vampire, and this chick here used to be a vengeance demon. And if you were really working for the Powers, why would they sent you here on the one evening when these two are out? Oh, by the way, Peaches, what's in this thing," Spike suddenly asked Angel, pointing to the container with the prophecy which lay on the floor. "He had it in his hands when I caught him."

"That's the prophecy," Cordelia answered in Angel's place, shock in her voice. "You wanted to steal it," she realised. "Why?" The disappointment and feeling of betrayal in her voice were not to miss.

"Cordelia, do you really believe him?"

"I do," Buffy answered before Cordelia could say anything. "Spike's the kind of guy who lies by omission not admission," she added, trying to justify the reason why she actually trusted Spike despite their recent fallout. "And how about instead of asking us questions you answer ours first?"

Skip simply closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate on something before opening them again, appearing to be surprised about something.

"I put a binding spell on you so that you can't move," Tara informed him.

"It can't have been a too difficult and powerful one, you lacked the time for that. I doubt that it'll hold for long," Skip calmly said.

"True, but until then I can do a lot of damage to you," Spike threatened him.

"Not in my living room, you won't," Buffy argued.

Skip smirked. "Well, doesn't look like you can get your rush of violence from me, vampire," he told Spike.

"Only because you can't move on your own doesn't mean I can't move you, you big, grey lump," Spike corrected him, immediately wiping the smirk off Skip's face. "You two, can you somehow find a way to contain him until I get him to my crypt," he asked Willow and Tara.

The two witches exchanged an uneasy look before nodding and disappearing upstairs.

"Looks like Spike will get his rush from you tonight after all," Buffy quipped. "Or would you like to spill the beans to us now?"

"All right. I was sent by one of the Powers to retrieve the prophecy before the witches can perform their thrall detection spell."

"Why," Cordelia asked.

Skip sighed. "Because this was not supposed to happen. You two weren't supposed to come here, you weren't even supposed to be aware of something happening to Angel."

"What," Cordelia and Angel asked in unison.

"Connor has to play a purpose in the Tro-Clon, an upcoming confrontation between two higher beings, one representing good, the other evil. The good one is going to be one of the Powers. The evil one being the most evil entity in the entire universe."

"The Senior Partners," Cordelia asked.

"The First Evil," Angel answered, clearly shocked by this.

Skip nodded. "The First Evil tried to kill you because you were chosen as the Powers' champion. The death and resurrection of the Slayer has made it more powerful, and the second time it happened even more so."

Silence followed until Buffy asked something. "So what does this have to do with Connor?"

"As I said, he has to play a role in the Tro-Clon. Only he can't while still being a baby."

Realisation dawned on Angel and Cordelia's faces. "You wanted him to be taken," Cordelia said, clearly getting furious with her demon guide. As if her facial expression and the tone of her voice weren't enough of a give away of her emotional state, a light glow started to engulf her as she advanced on Skip. "You bastards," she spat.

"It's not my fault that the rise of the First will happen faster than anticipated. Connor will only be able to play his role when he's of age. If you had let Holtz take him he'd have been forced to escape into a hell dimension to escape you and Wolfram & Hart."

That was too much. Cordelia slapped Skip and the demon nearly fell to the floor. "How dare you?! He's a little baby! A human being!"

"He's a human-vampire hybrid, created by the Powers to serve their purpose," Skip argued back.

Cordelia wanted to hit him again, but Buffy held her back. "Angel, take her upstairs to your son," she ordered. The vampire nodded and led his girlfriend away. Buffy turned back to Skip once the two were upstairs, absolute fury in her eyes. "You know, if I weren't hosting a wedding this weekend I'd definitely help Spike to ruin my carpet with your entrails right now," she told him.

"Why are you so angry at me," Skip asked innocently.

Buffy wasn't having any of it. She let her anger overtake her and hit the demon in the face, sending him onto the floor. "Because we're talking about a sentient being, not some mindless robot that you guys built to put some machine parts together."

"For the Powers we're all just pawns," Skip answered.

"Maybe, but I already died twice, and I've enough of being used as a pawn by anyone, including the freakin' Powers, so I quite frankly don't give a crap about what they've got planed for that little baby. I'll do anything in my power to make sure that he gets the closest thing to a happy childhood as he can get as the son of a vampire and a half-demon."

"He's the son of two vampires," Skip corrected her.

"Biologically maybe. But his real mother, the mother that really counts, isn't dust. She's upstairs with him right now," Buffy told him.

"Why wouldn't the Powers simply remove the thrall," Anya suddenly ask. "Or have the spell go awry? Or why not sent a messenger instead of a mercenary? You said yourself you don't really look trustworthy."

"Right," Buffy said. "I've met one of your messengers before, going by the name of Whistler. I know Angel knows him, I know Cordelia knows about him. Why not sent him here? He looks perfectly human."

Suddenly Willow and Tara rushed downstairs, directly for the front door. "We need something from the Magic Box," Willow said. "We'll give you the money later," she added to Anya before the former demon could argue against them taking something from her shop.

"They won't be back before I can move again. I can already feel it," Skip announced once the two witches were out of the door.

"Well, then I might have to kill you," Spike simply said.

Buffy didn't even bother to argue. "Answer my question if you don't want to get knocked unconscious until this Tro-Clon thing is over," she threatened him.

Skip clearly thought about not answering but then did so anyway. "Because you were never supposed to know."

"This is the first thing you said that really sounds like the Powers," Anya commented. "I've lived for nearly a thousand years, I've been to other planes of existence, and several other dimensions. There I've met a lot of servants to the Powers. Champions, seers, messengers, conduits, even mercenaries, but I've not only never encountered one of your kind working for them, I've also never heard of the Powers making their own hands dirty by becoming directly involved. Even against the First Evil they'd rather sent an army of mercenaries in and give their champions clues on how to stop its rise rather than have one of their own come down and fight it itself," she explained to Buffy and Spike.

Anya's tirade caused Buffy to realise something. "You said one," she said to Skip.

"What?"

"You said you were sent by one of the Powers. Not the Powers themselves, just one of them. Why?"

Skip looked like a deer in headlights, apparently just realising his earlier slip-up. "I'm an employee of the Powers, serving one in particular."

"What's it's name, Skippy," Spike asked.

"Human vocal chords aren't capable of pronouncing it."

"Okay, what does it want," Buffy asked.

"I already told you what they want."

"Not they, it," Buffy corrected. "You're here on behest of one of the Powers, not all of them. And I'm guessing it's the same one that plans to defy their modus operandi and come down to Earth to take on the First Evil itself, correct?"

Skip's only answer was to simply stare angrily at the Slayer.

"Guess you're right, luv," Spike commented with a grin before turning to Anya. "Hey, didn't you say that the Powers normally punish those among them that break this non-interference crap they've got?"

Anya nodded. "Yes, they...," she started only to suddenly pause. Her eyes went wide and her face pale. "You dirty bastard," she cursed, clearly meaning Skip. "How perverted can somebody be?"

"What," Buffy and Spike asked in unison, not following Anya's trial of thought.

"The demon you put in Cordelia is a higher demon, thus making it easier for her to ascend," Anya said.

Skip shrugged as good as he could given his magical restrains. "So what?"

"So what," Anya shrieked.

"What's going on," Buffy asked the ex-demon in complete confusion.

"There are two things you need or should be of age for. One is fighting, but Connor would only be another soldier in a fight against the First's army, and given his heritage he'd most likely be something like a male Slayer. The other thing is having sex and getting children."

"So they, or it, wants to use him as a soldier and to impregnate somebody? What does that have to do with Cordelia," Buffy asked.

"Bloody hell," Spike muttered, seemingly realising what Anya was getting at. "How," he asked her.

"As I said, Cordelia has an higher demon inside of her. You were going to convince her to ascend, didn't you? After Connor had been taken, right? Only that she'd then fall under the non-interference policy, and once she broke it, which she would've by trying to save him, she'd be sent back to Earth with your master or mistress using her as a vessel to circumvent this policy, am I right?"

Now Buffy also realised what Cordelia meant. "You want to use Cordelia as a vessel for this being – and you want Connor to be... to be...," she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

"Why," Spike asked both Anya and Skip, not directly addressing either one of them.

"Even as a half-demon, having an higher being inside of her would eventually rip Cordelia apart. What it would need would be it's own body. A natural body that doesn't reject it," Anya explained.

This was enough for Buffy. She kicked Skip as hard in the stomach as she could, stepped onto his arm, and used her other foot to kick him in the face. "You perverted piece of shit. You want to use her as an incubator? And you want her son to impregnate her?" She knew that Angel, and probably also Cordelia, had heard her outburst, but right now she didn't care. "You better pray that Tara's spell wears off before she and Willow come back, because once we can get you into Spike's crypt I'd happily assist him in getting rid of you."

"And you won't be the only one," Angel said in a low, threatening voice.

Buffy turned around to look at him. He must have raced downstairs once he had heard what she said. She wanted to say something but didn't know what, especially not after looking in his eyes. She wasn't surprise to see the anger and fury in them, she had expected that. What surprised and shocked her was a hint of darkness that reminded her of Angelus. She turned to Spike who signalled her with one quick look that he had noticed the same thing.

"Angel, why don't you go back upstairs to your woman and child? Let us handle this guy," Spike said, clearly trying to defuse the situation. Buffy knew that Spike didn't like Angel but he downright hated Angelus, and most likely wasn't too thrilled about Angel channelling his soulless demon.

"And forget what he wanted to do to my family?"

"Angel, you've got to understand," Skip begged, but Angel didn't let him finish. "Understand what? That you pretended to be on our side? That you made friends with Cordelia only to use her? That you wanted to use our son? That you made him possible only to use him as a... as a breeding bull? If that's what the Powers actually stand for or want, I quit."

"You'd give up your Shanshu," Skip reminded him.

"His what," Buffy asked.

"My Shanshu. I did tell you about the prophecy that Wesley mistranslated, about me dying in an apocalypse. Well, it actually said that I'd live and then die, meaning I'd be turned back human," Angel explained. "But if I've got to sacrifice the woman I love and my son for that, I'll gladly give it up."

Buffy looked at him with her mouth hanging open. If she had any doubt left how much Angel loved Cordelia, it was now blown away. They both were willing to give up their chances to be human, to have a normal life, for each other. If that wasn't true love and devotion, Buffy didn't know what was.

"Let him go," Cordelia suddenly said, appearing in the door frame, standing behind Angel.

"What," the others asked, not believing their ears.

"Let him go," Cordelia repeated herself forcefully as she started to advance on Skip. "I want you to go back to whoever you serve and tell him, or her, or it, that it can shove its plans for me and my son up its ass, do you get that? And if you ever dare to come back here, to cross my path or that of my son again, even if it's just by accident, I promise you, I'll be the one that'll finish you off, and it won't be pretty."

The tone of Cordelia's voice left no room for interpretation. She meant every word of what she said, and she was just as angry as Angel was. Buffy could see and feel a darker side to the former cheerleader that she had never seen before, and she didn't know how to feel about it. Cordelia wanted Skip to hide away and to live in fear of her. There was something extremely cruel about it, but given the circumstances also something completely justified.

Skip himself simply stared at Cordelia, and she stared back. Spike observed the situation for a couple of seconds before loosening the ties, grabbing Skip at the neck, and dragging him to the front door. "Don't come back, because if I ever see you again I'll be the one to kill you. And believe me, if the Slayer ever meets you again that might be even worse," he told him as he threw him out onto the front porch, and then kicked him down onto the driveway. Giving the demon another dirty look, Spike turned around and walked back inside. "I might not have gotten another kill tonight, but a nice little fight and the threat of torture is such a beautiful way to ring out the evening, don't you think," he asked the others, who looked at him with a mixture of anger and disbelief.

A little while later Tara and Willow came back and where surprised that Skip wasn't there any longer. The others explained to them what happened, leaving the witches disgusted about the plan. After that the Scoobies sat around in silence, contemplating what they had just learned.

"We should give Giles a call," Angel suddenly said.

"Why," Buffy asked.

"Because he has the Nyazian Scrolls," Angel explained.

"The what," Xander asked.

Angel and Cordelia exchanged a look, debating who should answer with their eyes. Cordelia sighed. "The Nyazian Scrolls are the prophecies about the Tro-Clon. According to Wesley the Tro-Clon would either bring about the purification or ruination of mankind. And one of the events leading up to it was the birth of Connor," she explained

"Purification," Buffy asked.

"We don't know what that would mean," Angel said in response. "Before we left Los Angeles Giles had found them in Wesley's office and took them with him. I bet he has taken them with him to England to study them further."

"If this Skip is willing to make this Tro-Clon happen, he's probably going to go after them, or might already have them," Xander realised.

Angel nodded. "I know. That's why we should call Giles. He has to check if they're still there, and if they're he has to bring them to safety, maybe even turn them over to the Council."

"But wouldn't that endanger Connor," Tara asked.

"Not if he doesn't tell them that the son of two vampires is already born, let alone that he knows where he is," Angel answered.

"It's already morning in England. Let's see if Giles' already awake," Buffy announced. After calling her Watcher, who sounded as if she had just woken him up, and explaining to him what had happened, they all went to bed, extremely exhausted and worried about what was to come.


	10. Rehearsal Night

**After the long last chapter, this one his shorter again. And it also doesn't really further the story, it's just there for some further character development.**

* * *

"And they bought it," Cordelia asked in a whisper as she stood in the kitchen of the Summers residence while looking around the corner into the dining room, still not believing how easy Xander's relatives bought the excuse that Anya's friends were all circus people.

"Remember the Harvest," Buffy asked back, grinning.

"I... Point taken," Cordelia conceded. She had witnessed vampires attack the Bronze and kill people right in front of her, and had somehow managed to explain it away. "I guess living in Sunnydale is giving you a lifetime of exercise to buy into excuses like that," she admitted.

"Ye think," Buffy joked before handing her a bowl. "You know, by now I actually understand why Angel would rather stay with Spike tonight than here," she said after taking a bowl on her own.

"Yeah, never thought I'd see the day," Cordelia agreed as they walked back into the dining room. Most of Xander's family were present, and a lot of Anya's demon friends as well, but they did decide to refrain from asking obvious questions about Sahjhan.

As they sat down Xander's already drunken father turned to Cordelia and eyed her with interest, undressing her with his eyes. "Just for your info, Mr. Harris, I've got a boyfriend, and if he comes back and catches you looking at me like this, you'll spend your son's wedding, and a considerable amount of time afterwards, in the hospital," Cordelia told him very calmly despite being crept out by his behaviour regardless her day to day work in which she had to deal with far more creepy guys.

"So, where's this boyfriend of yours," he slurred.

"Dad," an annoyed Xander warned him.

"He's catching up with some old friends at the moment," Cordelia lied. This had been the cover story they had agreed upon for the evening.

"Cordelia, what have you been up to since you moved to Los Angeles anyway," Xander's mother suddenly asked her.

"Oh, I tried to get into acting, but the parts you get as a beginner nobody just weren't, let's say, stimulating enough to actually make me care, so I gave that one up. At that point I already started to work as a secretary at a private detective agency, and I still work there today," Cordelia replied, trying to sound as if she was sad about not making it as an actress, but she didn't really manage it.

"I can see why," Mrs. Harris joked and winked at her before turning her attention back to the food in front of her.

Cordelia, Buffy, and Willow exchanged some looks, all three of the them wanting this event to end. Prior all of them asked themselves what would be more annoying – Anya or her guests. Now they knew the answer – Xander's family.

"So is your boyfriend from Sunnydale as well," one of Xander's aunts asked.

"Kinda. He lived here for a couple of years before moving to L.A., but he's originally from Ireland," Cordelia answered honestly, glancing at Buffy, begging her to save her from this conversation.

"Anyway, I think we can find a more interesting subject than Cordelia's private life. This isn't about her after all," Buffy said. Just as Mrs. Harris wanted to object to that Buffy asked who wanted more soup.

Xander seemed to have gotten the hint and tried a new approach. "So, who's going to win the World Series this year? Mets or Yankees," he asked.

"Yankees. The Mets will have a hard enough time to get through the Braves and Phillies," answered one of Anya's guests. Several people eyed him suspiciously. "What? I watch Baseball," he answered. And suddenly most men at the table started to discuss the upcoming Baseball season.

Angel was sitting on the armchair in Spike's crypt. He knew that it used to be Buffy's, or Joyce's to be more correct, but he didn't ask what it was doing here. There were only two options: Spike stole it and Buffy never said anything about it, or Buffy, or Joyce, had given it to him. Either way Buffy was apparently okay with the armchair now standing here since he knew that she had been over as well.

It hadn't taken long after his arrival at the crypt for Spike to disappear, claiming that he couldn't stand to be alone with him for too long before wanting to hit something. Angel believed him since he felt the same. After managing to get Connor to sleep he had started to take a good look around the crypt. The upper floor really looked like a living room, with lightning, television, a fridge, and everything. The lower level on the other hand looked like it was in desperate need of reconstruction. It looked like a bomb had exploded in there. To Angel's surprise he could smell Buffy down there, and the scent was the strongest close to the burned bed standing there. Angel could only come up with one reason for this – Buffy had slept with Spike. Either very recently or often enough for her sent to linger in the air this long, and to be nearly ingrained in the burned bed sheets.

Now he was sitting in the armchair, watching television, constantly looking over to his son, checking up if he was still sleeping, waiting for Spike to come back from wherever he went. The sun was down by now. As Spike had put it, he'd be out patrolling tonight since the Slayer wasn't, and it gave him an excuse to stay away from his crypt and to hit something. "I'm starting to wonder if he's only coming back until we're gone," Angel asked his sleeping baby son.

"That was kinda the plan, but I'm starting to get hungry," Spike answered from the entrance as he walked inside.

"You've become more sneaky," Angel commented, not really sure how to feel about that.

"Man, you didn't even notice me spying on you back when I tried to steal the Gem of Amara from you," Spike replied as he went to his fridge and got a pack of blood from it.

"Pigs blood?"

"No, human," Spike answered sarcastically. "Of course it's pigs blood, you big poof."

"Then I'll have one as well," Angel replied.

"Then make it yourself."

Angel groaned and got up, walked over, and just as he reached the fridge, Spike slammed the door shut. He growled at the younger vampire, who just smirked. "Grow up, Spike," was all Angel said before opening the fridge again to get a pack of blood out. He smelled at it to make sure that it was pigs blood, and then went on to pour the liquid in a cup. He waited until Spike's own cup was done before putting his into the microwave as well. The two stood there in uncomfortable silence until Angel couldn't take it any longer. "So, tell me, since when do you sleep with Buffy," he asked.

"What," Spike asked back shocked.

Angel rolled his eyes. "I've been downstairs. I smelled her, and the source for the smell was the bed," he explained.

"What the hell were you doing in my bedroom," Spike asked back angrily.

"I was having a look around the place," Angel explained. "Now back to my question. Since when are you sleeping with Buffy?"

"None of your business," Spike answered and walked over to the armchair Angel had been sitting in. The blond vampire sat down and immediately changed the channel.

Angel shook his head and followed him. "If you hurt her...," he started but Spike interrupted him. "If I hurt her? Peaches, this thing is more the other way around."

Angel frowned. "What do you mean?"

Spike groaned. "Well, Captain Forehead, since you're obviously slow, I'll spell it out for you. I can't hurt humans, at least not as long they want to, so..."

"I didn't mean physical," Angel interrupted, wondering what he meant with his comment about being able to harm humans as long as they wanted to.

Spike let out a short, cruel laugh. "For that she'd have to care first."

Angel noted the slight hint of pain in Spike's voice and realised that if anybody had hurt somebody in this weird kind of relationship, it had been Buffy instead of the other way around. "You really do care about her," he said.

"I nearly staked Dru for her," Spike admitted, sounding defeated. "If Harmony hadn't gotten in the way, I would have. Only that the Slayer despised me for it."

"What," Angel found himself asking out loud, actually taking a bit of pity on his grandchilde.

"Yeah. Told me that I'm a monster and not capable of loving her, or loving in general. And yet, when she needs help she always comes back me. Do you want to know why," Spike asked, staring directly into Angel's eyes.

Angel himself remained silent and simply returned Spike's glare.

"Because she knows that I'm love's bitch and that I'd do anything for her. She knows that I do love her, and she knows that she cares as well, and that's the real reason why she broke things off."

"Are you sure that had nothing to do with you selling stolen demon eggs," Angel asked, not really sure he wanted to know the answer that Spike had come up with in his mind.

Spike scoffed at that. "That was just an excuse. Do ye wanna know how this started?" Angel nodded. "After she returned, I was the only one she told the truth, her having been in heaven and all. And then we started to sleep with each other. She wanted to feel something again, anything, she simply wanted to feel alive again. She wanted it rough, and often she wanted it in the dark, so that she could forget whom she was actually sleeping with. Because at first, she wanted me to be you. But over time, she didn't just leave after we were done, she didn't object to do it with the lights on, she didn't even longer moaned your name. No matter what blonde is telling herself, I know that she had started to like it, to enjoy what we had. And that's why she had to break things off, because how can little Miss Perfect have any kind of feelings for a monster like me? I mean, it's not like she never had any kind of relationship with one before."

Spike's tirade made Angel sick. He looked over to Connor and found the little guy still sleeping. Sighing he turned back to Spike, who had rage in his eyes. What made Angel sick was not that Spike believed this but that he himself didn't found it unbelievable either. He knew that Buffy must have had sex with Spike. He knew from Willow that Spike had claimed to love Buffy and had shown signs of affection for Buffy in the past. And he had noticed Buffy's tendency to defend Spike when other people attacked him while she did the same all the time herself. But most of all, there was something about Spike right now that made Angel believe him. The vampire with a soul asked himself what it was, and slowly realised that he reminded him of himself back when Cordelia had rejected him at first. "I'm sorry," was all he could say.

"What," Spike asked in surprise.

"I'm sorry," Angel repeated.

"Why?"

Angel shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "I just know that for some reason, I don't think you're too far off from the truth."

Now it was Spike's turn to look surprised. "Seriously? You of all people believe that the love of your life might have some feelings for me?"

"What does Cordelia have to do with this," Angel asked. He knew that Spike had meant Buffy, but he didn't care. As much as he hated the idea of Buffy potentially being in love with Spike, it had more to do with his dislike for the vampire sitting in front of him at the moment than still wanting to be with Buffy in anyway, and that was something he wanted to shout from the rooftops.

Spike himself crocked his eyebrows. "You'd seriously chose the cheerleader over the Slayer?"

"I already did," Angel replied. "Listen, Spike. I won't pretend that I like what I just heard. I might not longer be in love with Buffy, but I still care about her, and I can't even describe how grateful I am for her taking me and my family in like she did. And because of that I want her to find somebody with whom she can have what I have with Cordelia. Honestly, I don't think you're that person."

"Great pep talk, Peaches. Do you practice in front of the mirror," Spike spat.

Angel shook his head. "Spike, believe it or not, I know how you feel right now."

"I highly doubt it."

Angel sighed. "When I finally told Cordelia how I felt about her, she denied it. She ran away. I felt like my heart had been ribbed out of my chest, stomped upon, and put through a meat grinder, with the rests being stomped upon again. I felt like I had just lost my best friend forever. Nothing had ever hurt that much, not even leaving Buffy, or having her rub her relationship with Riley in my face. So I think I have a pretty good idea how broken down you might feel right now."

"Pfft, the hell you do. So she ran out crying and a few hours later the two of you probably had a heartfelt talk that ended with you making out and declaring your ever lasting love. So you might've had been hurt for a couple of hours, and even that was not the same. Or did your chit use you as a way of emotional and physical relief, knowing how you felt, only to throw you away because her own feelings started to scare her?!"

Connor suddenly started crying. Spike getting louder and louder had woken him up. Angel looked angrily at his grandchilde as he ran over to his son to soothe him back to sleep. "Hey there, buddy. Everything's fine, daddy's here," he said and vamped out, making Connor stop crying and instead starting to laugh.

"That works," Spike asked surprised.

Angel turned around to the face the other vampire while still rocking Connor. "Yeah. For some reason he finds the vamp-face thing funny but Cordelia glowing scary."

"Probably has something to do with being the child of two vampires," Spike noted.

"Probably," Angel agreed and then asked him to get the formula he had put in the fridge.

Grunting Spike agreed and asked his grandsire how long to put the bottle in the microwave. Once that was done he watched the older vampire feed his son. "I guess I won't have your blessing pursuing Buffy?"

Angel sighed. "You don't, and you know why."

Spike scoffed. "Why? Because I'm a monster? A man without conscience?"

"Pretty much."

"Right. Because if you didn't have a soul you'd the pinnacle of moral righteousness."

"I know, but I got one. You don't."

"No, I don't. And at the same time, the sole thing that keeps me from committing any crimes with actual victims is a chip in my head that stops me from directly hurting anyone. I could easily order other demons and vampires around to kill people. I mean, I can still harm and kill them. And still I decided to switch sides, and that was before I'd fallen in love with the Slayer. Maybe that's what always pissed you off about me? Angelus was always angry at me for keeping a bit of my humanity, and you Angel, you're angry at me for being able to do that without having a soul while you're not."

Angel felt anger rising inside of him, and the sole thing that kept him from attacking Spike was that he was holding his son in his arms. Instead he took an unneeded breath to calm himself down. " Do you really believe that?"

"What? That I'm both, a man and a monster? I don't just believe that, I know it. You on the other hand, you can barely accept that you're both, with the monster simply being locked away inside of you. And that's why you hate me so much. Because I'm better than you."

Angel had to close his eyes. God, Spike was annoying. Angel knew perfectly well that Spike kind of had a point, but that he also ignored one important detail. A vampire's personality was determined by the subconscious desires and suppressed emotions of the sired human. In Angel's case that had meant a lot of pinned up anger at his father and society had been released once he had become Angelus. And he had already been an arrogant, violent, misogynist prick as Liam to begin with. Having his soul returned to him had allowed him to finally grow out of it. Spike on the other hand had been way more gentle when he had been William. His siring had set free his rebellious nature and his desire to show it to those who had ridiculed him in life. That's why he had treated killing like a competition instead of an art like Angelus did. He never was the monster Angelus was, because William had been a better person than Liam to start with. That of course didn't change that Spike didn't really have a conscience since he didn't have a soul. He did good because he wanted to be recognised for it, not for the sake of it. For Angel that meant that he was a monster pretending to be a man. And while he felt like that himself sometimes, Cordelia had shown him that he wasn't but that he was in fact a man with a monster locked away inside of him, as Spike had put it.

"What, no argument? I'm disappointed," Spike commented.

"I just don't have to nerve to fight with you at the moment, especially not with Connor being here," Angel replied and sat down on the casket in the middle of the crypt.

Spike shook his head. "Of course," he replied sarcastically. "Anyway, I had my snack. I'm going to head back out and do something useful," he added and left again.

Now it was Angel's turn to shake his head. He looked down to his now asleep son. "You know, Spike is kinda your cousin. But please never look up to him as a role model, okay? Even Xander would be a better one," Angel said to him with a soothing voice. "And I really don't see what your aunt Buffy might see in him, but I know that she does see something there," he admitted out loud before putting Connor back into his carrier and returning to the armchair, changing the channel back to the classic movie programme he had previously watched.


	11. Hell's Bells

**As the title of the chapter should give away this takes place within the episode of the same name. I refrained from recapping most of it and instead only added or changed three scenes. That's all. The rest of the episode happened the exact same way. Enjoy.**

* * *

Angel and Cordelia were standing in Buffy's kitchen, both dressed up in their suit and dress respectively. Cordelia had just returned with Willow from her parents, who had gladly agreed to watch Connor for the rest of the day. With Angel now at her side, Cordelia noted that Xander's drunk and perverted relatives didn't longer dare to look at her as a fantasy conquest. "I still can't believe they fell for that," Angel said in disbelief after he overhead one of Xander's relatives complaining about the circus people that Anya had supposedly invited.

Cordelia chuckled. "Neither do I. I mean, I know that this is Sunnydale, and the people here have a history of denying the obvious, but circus people?"

"Harvest," Buffy reminded her as she entered the kitchen.

"Not the same. I had seen people die, my mind had to try to come up with an explanation in order to suppress that traumatic memory. So totally not the same thing," Cordelia defended herself.

"Wow, did you think about that during last night's dinner or afterwards," Buffy asked amused.

"Afterwards," Cordelia replied.

"And do you really believe that," Buffy wanted to know.

Cordelia shrugged. "Kinda. Otherwise I'd have to admit that I was as gullible as Xander's parents."

Buffy snorted. "Cordelia, nobody can be as gullible as Xander's parents."

Just then Dawn walked into the kitchen with a horned demon in tow. "Look who's here," she said in a near sing-sing voice.

"I was told you wanted to ask me some questions," the demon said to Buffy.

"You're D'Hoffryn," Buffy asked him.

The demon nodded. "Indeed I am."

"Good. And I'm not the one who wants to ask you some questions," she said.

"That would be us," said Angel.

D'Hoffryn turned to him and Cordelia, and eyed them carefully. "A vampire and a half-demon. A very interesting couple judging by the Claddagh rings."

"How did you," Cordelia started to ask but D'Hoffryn immediately answered. "He's very pale, and you've got a certain aura about you, my dear. Now what would you two like to know?"

The two exchanged a short look before asking D'Hoffryn to follow them upstairs so that less guests may overhear their talk. The vengeance demon agreed, clearly intrigued. He followed the couple upstairs, where they decided to use Buffy's room for their talk.

"Now, I don't know if you've heard of me...," Angel began but again D'Hoffryn was faster. "You're Angel, the vampire with a soul."

"Right," Angel said. "Very well then. Cordelia and I are private investigators in Los Angeles."

"I hope this is not about one of my vengeance demons casting a spell on one of your clients," D'Hoffryn joked.

"No," Angel replied. "Break up cases are not really our matière, if you understand what I mean."

"You hunt demons," said D'Hoffryn matter-of-factly.

"More or less. When they harm people or other demons," Cordelia confirmed.

D'Hoffryn nodded. "Of course," he said. "But I don't see how I could be of any help for you in that regard."

"There's a new player in town, and according to Anya if anyone here would know about him, it would be you," explained Angel.

A small smile appeared on the demon's face. "I feel honoured by the confidence put in me. So, who is this new player, as you put it?"

Angel and Cordelia exchanged some looks again before Angel answered. "A demon by the name of Sahjhan."

"We've researched him for some time now, but couldn't find anything. Not even our contact in the Watcher's Council could," Cordelia added. She eyed the demon in front of her suspiciously. There was something about him that irked her the wrong way. It probably was his charming gentleman-like behaviour that completely contradicted his outward appearance, and the fact that he was a destructive vengeance demon.

"Sahjhan you say," he asked and the two nodded. "Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long, long time."

"So you know him," Cordelia asked hopefully.

D'Hoffryn nodded. "Oh yeah. He's a Granok demon."

"A what," Cordelia asked.

"A Granok demon. A warrior race, long thought to be extinct by most."

"But you know better," Angel noted.

The vengeance demon nodded once more. "Yes. The Granok were such a powerful and vicious warrior race that most other demons tried to avoid them, including our kind. Their unpredictability led to the Senior Partners, a group of three..."

"...very powerful demons. We're well aware of them and their law firm," Angel interjected.

"They're probably our biggest pain in the butt. At least for Wolfram & Hart in L.A. it's the same the other way around," Cordelia added.

D'Hoffryn gave curtsey nod, coupled with a smile, before continuing. "Very well then. The Senior Partners allied themselves with one of the most powerful entities in this dimension, a being known as Mesektet, the fifth and most malevolent totem of the Ra-Tet."

"The what," asked Angel and Cordelia in unison.

"The Ra-Tet. Five entities that together represent the ancient Egyptian sun god Ra. The first two are benevolent, with the first one, Ma'at, being one of the most potent users of white magic. She represents the sunrise. Mesektet on the other hand represents the sunset, and is one of the darkest entities you can possibly imagine. She's pure evil, maybe even more evil than the Senior Partners themselves."

"You don't seem to like them very much," Angel noted, and Cordelia had picked up on that fact as well.

"I don't. Vengeance demons might cause harm, but we're not evil. It's just in our nature that we strive on chaos. While the Senior Partners in general just crave negative human emotions, regardless of how they come to be, the Ra-Tet despises chaos, making them all our natural enemies."

Cordelia nodded in understanding. A few years ago she would have been way more confused by this concept. Back then she had a very simple view on demons: In general bad, some individuals good. Now she had found a very different understanding of the matter. She had learned that there were many different kinds of demons with different cultures that had different concepts of good and evil, and that all these different demon races had different needs, not to mention that within these groups the individuals, just as with humans, could vary a whole lot. That still didn't make it easier to accept that demons like D'Hoffryn strived on human misery while at the same time not wanting to bring about the end of the world or something like that. In her book that meant that they were still kind of evil, but not the kind of evil that had to be hunted down and destroyed.

"What did the Senior Partners and this Mesektet do to the Granok," Angel asked.

"They ended their corporeal existence and entrapped them in Resikhian Urns, the only containments powerful enough to hold a Granok, even in their corporeal form."

"Then how can Sahjhan be free," Cordelia wondered out loud.

"He escaped. He's been shifting through time, causing trouble and chaos wherever he went."

Angel and Cordelia didn't say anything, instead they looked at each other. Cordelia immediately knew that Angel was asking himself the same thing she was asking herself at the moment; if the Granok had been defeated by the Senior Partner, why would Sahjhan ally himself with Wolfram & Hart?

"Was that all you wanted from he," D'Hoffryn asked.

"Ahm, yeah, or no," Angel answered. "How can we defeat him?"

"As long as he's still incorporeal you could easily entrap him in Resikhian Urn," D'Hoffryn offered.

"But if he'd ever get out, he'd still be able to come after us," Cordelia realised.

The demon nodded. "He would be, and he probably will."

"Why though," Angel wanted to know.

"There's a prophecy about him and that he'll one day be slain by the son of the ensouled vampire."

Angel and Cordelia's faces fell and they both hoped that D'Hoffryn wouldn't reach the correct conclusion behind their reaction. And they were in for a big surprise.

"If you don't want to wait for your son to grow up and kill him, you might want to re-corporealise him," the demon told them.

"What?" Cordelia couldn't believe what she had just heard. How did he know about Connor?

"I know a lot of things I might not be supposed to know about," D'Hoffryn replied mysteriously. "I personally have no interest in the fate of your son, at least not at the moment. But given the prophecy about him, Sahjhan is going to continue to come after your son, and with that you," D'Hoffryn told them.

"So you'd suggest us giving him his body back and then kill him," Cordelia asked.

"I do."

"Since even the Senior Partners and this Mesektet couldn't do that, I highly doubt that this in an easy task," Angel objected.

"Oh no, it won't be. Especially not for a single vampire. Even you, Angelus."

Angel groaned. Cordelia knew how much he hated being referenced by the name of his evil alter ego, but right now they both had to let it slight. "He's not alone," she told D'Hoffryn instead of correcting him on Angel's name.

D'Hoffryn smiled, which came across as a bit condescending. "You two won't be enough. But there's one person in this house that might be," he said before leaving to rejoin the festivities.

Angel and Cordelia were left behind, looking perplexed at the door. "How the hell did he know," Angel asked out loud what they were both thinking.

"I've got no idea, but I think we should've a talk with Anya."

Angel nodded in agreement. "I doubt that she has told him."

"I don't think so either, but she knows him better than we do."

Angel remained silent for a moment before speaking up again, "You know who he meant, don't you?"

"Regarding what?"

"The one in this house that can help us defeat Sahjhan as a corporeal being."

"Yeah. Buffy," Cordelia confirmed.

* * *

Angel hoped that he managed to get Xander back to the house before the sudden rainfall had stopped again. It had taken some time to convince Buffy and Cordelia that he should be the one going after the groom since he had the best smell. And even though the rain made it hard to locate the man of the hour Angel managed to pick up his trace after a several minutes of sniffing. "What the hell are you doing here," he shouted after the younger man as he approached him.

Xander turned around, horror written on his face. "I could ask you the same thing, Dead Boy. Especially in the middle of the day."

"The sun's not out," Angel answered. "And now let's go back to the wedding."

"No," Xander replied and turned around to continue walking away.

"May I ask why," asked Angel as he continued to follow a guy he didn't even like, thus endangering himself.

"You may not," Xander answered. The two walked in silence while the rain poured on. "Okay, are you going to follow me until you turn to dust?"

"Maybe. Or at least until you go back to your own wedding."

"I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because I think Anya is a nice woman, and if you intent to chicken out the least you can do is tell her yourself instead of simply running away," Angel replied forcefully.

Xander clearly didn't know what to say and just stood there like a goldfish before sighing and agreeing to return to the house with Angel. The two men started to walk back to Buffy's when Xander suddenly felt the need to say something. "I don't deserve her," he said. Angel grunted in reply to this. "What? No other comment? Forgotten how to speak?"

Sighing Angel stopped and stared angrily at Xander. "Is that all you can do? Insult me and behave like you're still in high school? Are you really still this childish that you haven't gotten over your high school crush dating me back then instead of you? Or is this about your actual high school girlfriend now being my girlfriend? Because if it is than you're absolutely right, Anya deserves better than you. I might not know her well, but from what I've seen in this past week she definitely deserves somebody who'll love her and not just be married to her because he can't have the person he really wants." After he had finished his tirade Angel started to walk again.

"And what makes you think you can give me an advice here, Dead Boy? You don't honestly think that you deserve to be with Cordy, do you?"

Groaning, Angel stopped again. "No, I don't. I've done too many horrible things in my past to deserve a woman like her to love me and to accept me with all my flaws and past sins. But she does, and that's something I don't have a say in."

"You could walk away!"

"I could, and then what? Do you think that would make me stop loving her? Or her stop loving me? Hell, if I were to do that, Cordy would simply run after me and berate me for even trying to pull that kind of move."

"So what happened to being the bigger man and leaving because it would be better for the both of you?"

"You really believe that you leaving now would be better for you and Anya?"

"I'm not talking about me and Anya!"

"Then who... Damn it, Xander! Is this really all still about me and Buffy? Is any relationship you ever had only about you not being able to be with her? If that's the case you maybe should just tell her that you can never be with anybody but her! Considering that she's single right now, she might be willing to give you a shot." Angel could barely believe his own words. He hated Harris, but if it came down to it he had to admit that he'd rather see him with Buffy than Spike.

"No, this is about you."

"Seriously? You're about to ruin your own wedding and you want to talk about my past relationship with Buffy? You're unbelievable."

"No, I want to know. What happened to being the bigger man."

Angel sighed. "Buffy and I didn't work, okay? I had realised that, and I knew that no matter what, I had to leave because otherwise we'd have a soap opera style on-and-off-again relationship. I was holding her back. And I later realised that it was the same in reverse."

"Oh, and you're not holding Cordy back?"

"No. She had several changes to walk away but never did. She's an adult woman who has made her choice, Buffy was a teenager. And if you can't see the difference between that than I pity you because you clearly haven't managed to overcome puberty yourself," Angel spat.

"Oh, really? I haven't gotten over puberty? Why do you think I'm doing this?!"

"I don't know, you won't tell me!"

They both realised that the rain started to clear and that they had to move fast to get back to the house. Angel turned around and picked up his pace, making it harder for Xander to keep up. The first direct sun-rays started to come through the clouds and Angel started to smoke. He could of course have risked being incinerated by making sure that Harris managed to keep up, but quite frankly he had no interest in it. Instead he started running and managed to reach Buffy's house just in time when the first flames started. Cordelia immediately burst through the front door to cover him with a blanket.

"Thank you," was all Angel said before coming inside and giving her a quick kiss.

"Did you find him," Cordelia asked.

Angel nodded. "And I kinda regret it."

"Why?"

"Because he's a brick. Trying to make him running away about me."

"How?"

"Guess."

"Buffy."

Angel only response was a "duh".

"God, when is he finally going to get over that one."

Before Angel could answer, Xander walked into the house.

"You got a lot of explaining to do," Cordelia immediately told him in her no-nonsense tone, putting her hands on her hips. "And no beating around the bushes. You leave your own wedding, leaving Anya in tears, and then you nearly kill my boyfriend trying to find you. I better hope that you've got a very good reason for that."

Suddenly Buffy came into the entrance area. "Finally, Xander, where the hell have you been?"

"Out," Xander answered and then started to walk away, but Cordelia wouldn't let him. She used her demon speed and strength to grab his arm and pull him back. "Not like this, mister."

Xander gulped. "What do you want me to say? I'm sorry that Angel was stupid enough to go after me in the middle of the day?"

"God, can you stop being the jealous school boy, at least on the day of your wedding," Cordelia asked him annoyed.

"This is not about that," replied Xander angrily.

"Than what is is about, Xander? Are you afraid that Anya is going to start cheating on you with Angel one day," Cordelia asked sarcastically.

Angel himself didn't know what to say to this. "Not gonna happen," was all he got out.

Cordelia smiled at him and rubbed his arm reassuringly. "I know, honey," she told him before turning back to Xander. "So what is it?"

Xander sighed and told them about the guy from the future that had shown him a vision of a broken future with him being a drunk, abusive husband, and how his and Anya's children didn't get along and that he didn't care about that.

"So instead of fighting for a better future you decided to simply run away," Cordelia deduced. "God, you're pathetic."

"I am pathetic? That's rich coming from you, Queen C. When have you ever faced your problems," Xander shot back.

Cordelia had to fight her urge to slap him herself as she had to move herself between him and Angel to stop her boyfriend from hitting her ex. "Buffy, you should go to Anya and tell her that her lovely groom has a mental breakdown at the moment," she said coldly, never taking her eyes from the man she was talking about.

"Typical, ordering other people around...," Xander couldn't get another word out – both Cordelia and Buffy had given him a slap on the back of his head to make him shut up.

"Xander, if this is really just about you being afraid that you one day will end up like your father, go to Anya and explain that to her. Tell her that you can't marry her right now and that you need to figure this out. But if you truly love her, and you want to have a future with her, better not break things off with her," Cordelia said in advice.

"Or even better, just go in there and marry her," Angel added.

Xander scoffed. "Right, and become like my dad?"

Angel rolled his eyes. "How little self-esteem do you even have? I don't even have to ask why you have such a low one because you obviously have it thanks to the drunk guy that happens to be your father."

"Don't you dare talk about my father like that," Xander shouted back.

Angel lost his nerve and dragged the younger man to the basement, leaving Cordelia and Buffy behind in the lobby, and with that to deal with the guests running back there. "I used to be that guy," Angel said angrily after he locked the basement door behind them.

"What?"

"I used to be the drunk guy that treated people like shit. I did so because I didn't had any self-esteem either. My father... I never could live up to him, no matter what I did. So I drank, and drank, and drank. That's how I got sired. But I'm not longer that guy. And let me tell you that after I got my soul back, it would have been so easy to get back to being that guy."

"Why didn't you," Xander asked in a small voice.

"Because I didn't want to prove my father right that I wasn't anything better than a low-life drunk. It took me decades to pull me out of my depression and make something out of my life, but I managed to do it."

"I don't have decades."

"No, but I'd be surprised if you'd have a century and a half of crimes on your conscience," Angel argued. When Xander remained quiet and didn't argue back, he continued, "The question you've got to ask yourself now is if you think you're capable not becoming your dad."

"I... I've seen the future," Xander argued, leading to Angel slapping him on the back of his head just as Buffy and Cordelia had done before. "Hey!"

"You've maybe seen a potential version of the future, but it doesn't have to turn out that way. The future is not set in stone. It can be changed. Or what do you think I do?"

"What?"

"Cordelia's visions. She sees people in trouble, the bad things that are going to happen, and I go out there and prevent that."

"That's not the same."

"Really? Because as I see it, it is. You've been given a vision, a warning about what might happen, and it is now up to you to find a way to prevent it. If you really believe that the only way is not to marry Anya because you're afraid that you'll definitely end up like your dad, you might want to join a monastery because running away now won't make the problem go away. There'll always be the danger of you becoming a drunk, abusive bastard, no matter if you're in a relationship or not."

"But if I'm not marrying her, Anya won't suffer from it."

"And you think not being in a relationship makes it less likely to become a drunk bastard? Because you're completely wrong on that one. I've had over a century of experience on this, and every time I decided to close myself off of humanity I got closer to reverting back to Angelus than when I embraced humanity and became a part of society to some degree or another."

"That's something completely different!"

"No it's not. You isolate yourself, you get lonely. The more lonely you get, the more depressed you get, and the more depressed you are, the more likely you are to do something stupid and embrace your darker urges. For me that part leads to Angelus. Where that leads for you is something you've got to answer yourself. But if you really fear becoming like your dad, the last thing you should do is shut out your friends, and most importantly, shut out the woman you love and who happens to love you back." Angel stared Xander directly in the eyes and saw the wheels in the young man's head turning. Sighing he announced that he would go upstairs again and that Xander should stay downstairs until he could answer himself if he was brave enough to fight his darker side with Anya by his side or not.

"Where is he," Anya asked Angel as soon as he got out of the basement.

"Downstairs," Angel answered. Before he could say anything else, Anya walked past him and to her groom. Angel sighed. "Let's hope that he's going to do the right."

"And what would that be," asked Buffy.

Angel shrugged. "That's up to him."

* * *

A few hours later the Scoobies, minus Spike, were sitting in the dining room. After spending over half an hour in the basement together, Anya and Xander had emerged to call the wedding off while assuring everyone that they were still engaged. The first guests had already left and this statement had started another exodus, accompanied by another fight between Xander's family and Anya's friends that Buffy had to break up. Once the guests had left, Willow and Cordelia had driven over to her parents and gotten Connor, who was now sleeping on his father's lap.

"So what are you guys planning to do now," Willow asked.

"I'm going to go away," Xander answered.

"What," a shocked Buffy asked.

"I'm going to do what Angel did last summer. I'm going on a soul searching trip. Just not to Sri Lanka. I think... I think it's finally time for me to make good on my cross-country road trip idea. At least for a few weeks, I mean, as long as I can get off at work."

"Why," Willow asked in a small voice.

"After today... after today I just need some time alone to think about stuff," Xander admitted, sounding defeated.

"But you two are still together, right," asked Tara concerned.

"Yes," Anya answered shyly and grabbed Xander's hand.

"Mainly thanks to Angel," Xander admitted, causing everyone to look at the vampire in surprise. "If he hadn't given me a good verbal whopping I might have just run off without having a long talk with Anya first."

"You're welcome," Angel replied a bit uncomfortably.

"And you Anya," Tara asked insecurely.

Anya sighed and squeezed Xander's hand. "I'm going to stay here," she replied, clearly hurt. "I'm not going to act as if I like it," she added, repeating what she had told Xander in the basement, "but Xander and I want to give our relationship a second chance, and for that he has to be alone for awhile. I'm going to respect that." After she was done her strong demeanour started to crumble and tears started to fall. "I'm sorry, I...," she started before running out.

Xander sighed but let her go to the bathroom alone. "I think I better get going as soon as she comes back," he said.

"Already," Dawn squeaked.

Xander nodded gloomily. "I have to. The longer I wait the harder it'll get. I'm going to go home, pack my stuff, go to a motel room for the night, and then start driving to wherever in the morning."

"But what about the SWAT teams, and Holtz, and this Sahjhan," Dawn argued, clearly distraught that Xander was going to go away for the unforeseeable future.

The would-be groom smiled at the younger sister of one of his best friends, whom he knew had a crush on him. "Hey, it's not like you'll really need me for it. Your sister can take care of herself, and she's not going to let Dead Boy and Cordelia down. Plus, there are still Spike, Tara and Will here if goes to hell. And let's admit, it always does," he assured the teenager with a heavy heart despite his attempt at a joke.

Dawn didn't reply, she simply looked down on the table, clearly having tears in her eyes. Willow also looked pretty shaken up, being close to tears herself. Tara looked mostly confused but also hurt about the failed wedding of her friends. Buffy tried to put on the strong mask she always wore these days, but it was clear to the observer, especially somebody who knew her as well as Xander did, that it was all an act. She was confused, hurt, and angry about what had happened, and she probably was mainly angry at him. Angel and Cordelia looked both uncomfortable with the situation, which was no surprise given their outsider status among the group.

The silence in the room was suffocating until Anya returned. She remained standing in the door frame, her tears drying on her cheeks. Xander shot up as soon as she reappeared in his vision but didn't move to her at first. After a few seconds, when the silence became even more uncomfortable and unable for anyone to bear, he finally moved. Just stopping himself from embracing or kissing his fiancée, he stopped a few inches away from her. "I..."

"You must go now. I understand," Anya replied, new tears forming in her eyes.

Xander couldn't stop himself from reaching out. He cupped her cheeks and wiped away the tears. "Shh, it's okay, I'm going to come back soon," he told her.

"I know but... but what if you come back and you don't want me anymore," Anya said, vocalising her fears.

"Not gonna happen," he assured her. "This is about me wanting to make sure that I'm good enough for you, not the other way around."

"You already are," Anya tried to tell him.

Xander had to look away. "We already talked about this," he reminded her. "So I better get going now before, you know," he said and bid her and the other farewell for now.

As soon as he had left Anya really did break down. She didn't move away from the place she was standing at and simply collapsed right there, tears streaming down her face. Buffy jumped off her seat immediately and rushed to her. "Hey, it's going to be okay," she told Anya as she engolved her in a hug. No matter what problems the two sometimes had, this had been supposed the ex-demon's special day, and now an old enemy of hers had turned it into on of the worst in her long life. Buffy was simply too big a person to let Anya suffer from it without any emotional support.

After a few minutes of crying and hugging, Anya rejoined the group at the table. "Okay, maybe a change of subject," she suggested and the others agreed. "Great. How was your talk with D'Hoffryn?"

"Very informative," Angel replied, and he and Cordelia told the rest of the group what the ruler of Arashmaharr had told them about Sahjhan and his people.

"Sounds dangerous," said Willow after they had finished.

"Maybe we should...," Dawn started but an angry glare from Buffy made her shut up.

"You didn't tell him about Connor, right," Cordelia asked Anya, who shook her head. "Didn't think so. Any idea how he might knew about him?"

Anya shrugged. "There are several ways I assume. He'll definitely have contacts in Los Angeles. There might even be some of his charges that are either represented or charged by Wolfram & Hart, I don't know."

The silence that fell on the group after this was once again suffocating. This time it was Buffy who broke it up by clapping her hands together. "I'd say we better get to bed now. Tomorrow will be a long day. Will, Tara, you two better get going with researching these Granok demons and how to summon them as early as you can." The witches nodded. "Good. Anya, you can take my room for tonight if you don't want to go back to your place now," she then offered the would-be bride.

Anya nodded absent-mindedly and thanked Buffy in a small voice before going upstairs. Tara then said goodbye as well and left.

"So, who's going to draw up the new bathroom plan for tomorrow," Dawn asked as soon as the Summers, Willow, Angel and Cordelia were left alone. The four adults immediately looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Why me," Dawn groaned.

"Because you asked," Buffy told her and got up herself. "I better get some of my stuff downstairs since I'll take the couch tonight," she announced. "And I might make another sweep through the cemetery. Maybe I'm lucky and run into Spike, then I can tell him that we might need him tomorrow or so to fight this Sahjhan."

"Do you really think that's necessary," Angel groaned.

Buffy smirked. "It might be. Plus, if there's one thing that'll keep Spike happy it's a good throwdown with some violent demon," the Slayer replied before making good on her words by going upstairs. Angel and Cordelia exchanged some questioning looks before Cordelia followed Buffy, with Connor in her arms, to make herself and the baby ready for bed.


	12. Satan's Coming to You

**I'm started to get a bit of a headache with this story. I just hope I won't rush the ending. This is the first part of setting that one up. I hope it works well.**

* * *

Lilah had just dismissed the leader of their Special Operations Team to get ready to move out to Sunnydale as quickly as possible when Gavin marched into her office with a smug expression on his face. "I know something you don't," he told her.

"Angel and his Seer are in Sunnydale," replied Lilah coldly, causing the smug expression to vanish from Gavin's face. "See, you're not the only one with contacts."

"Considering the number of demons at that wedding disaster," commented Gavin commented absent-mindedly, and obviously angry.

"I already knew before," Lilah told him. Gavin looked at her in disbelief. "They were seen in the mall two days ago."

"Then why did you wait until now?"

Lilah smirked. "Because sending a Special Ops team to get them while they're at the Slayer's house, attending a wedding with numerous demon guests, is not really the most secure way of getting the baby, if he even had been at the wedding at all. Sometimes I seriously have to wonder how you ever managed to make it through law school."

Gavin groaned. "Whatever. What's your brilliant plan to get them right under the Slayer's nose without her noticing?"

"We create a diversion for her and then take the happy little Angel family."

"What kind of diversion?"

Lilah scoffed at him for even asking that question. "You really think I'd tell you? Now go, I've got work to do before driving up to Sunnydale," she ordered. As she watched the other lawyer leave she hoped that Sahjhan was going to keep his word and attack the Slayer and her vampire boytoy concurrently to their attack on Angel and Cordelia. The only thing they then would have to worry about were the two witches, which could prove to be a problem, but that was a bridge they'd have to cross when it came to it, Lilah decided.

Right now she had more important things to worry about, mainly the identity of the man with the deep voice that Gavin was secretly working with. The last thing she wanted was to attract too much attention while looking into the subject matter. She had spent the last two days wrecking her mind, trying to think up strategies on how to proceed – and had come up empty. The sole thing that she had managed to come up with involved Wesley's knowledge about daemons, which apparently went further than what the Council officially knew about them. She suspected that the man had talked to him and made him give this additional information on these creatures to her. Only problem was that Lilah had no idea why he would do that. It only confirmed what she had already suspected, and that was that this man definitely wasn't working for or with Wolfram & Hart. This knowledge only created more headaches though. If he wasn't working for the firm than why did Gavin take orders from him? And how did he seem to know stuff about daemons that not even the firm or the Council knew? Since she couldn't confront Gavin about him she had to somehow work through Wesley. But for that she needed the Watcher more under her control and watch with less possibility of other people gaining access to him without her knowledge. This man definitely did talk to him and might want to do so again in the future. She needed to know about future meetings, and she needed to question Wesley about the meeting that already happened without anybody finding out about. Her best chance was to have him put under house arrest in one of the apartments owned by the firm and her named his overseer. The information he had given her on daemons might have been enough to excuse his release into house arrest, but it did mean a lot of paperwork.

Since she didn't have any better ideas on how to proceed, Lilah requested the necessary forms and started to work on them as quickly as possible. In all honesty she was even looking forward to having Wesley under her thumb. His resilience had impressed her, she wasn't going to deny that. And he was a more pleasant conversation partner to trade sarcastic jabs with than Gavin. Lilah knew that she had to produce results afterwards to justify keeping Wesley under house arrest and not to put him back into his cell or to kill him, and that would prove to be the most difficult task. A small smile graced her lips as she started to wonder what the former Watcher might want that would make him talk. He was a man after all.

* * *

It was noon when Kate and Charles returned to the Hyperion with take-out bags in their hands. "We brought food," announced Gunn as they walked up the reception counter behind which his girlfriend sat at the moment, still working on Wolfram & Hart's system.

"Great, I'm starving," replied the Texan and immediately grabbed one of the bags. "What is it?"

"Chinese. I hope you don't mind," responded Kate.

Fred smiled. "Nope. As long as I get something to eat, I'm happy. Even though I would've preferred tacos."

"Again," asked Kate surprised.

"I told ye," commented Charles with a grin. "Did you find anything new?"

Fred shook her head. "I know where Wesley is, but I've got no idea how we might get him out of there. I mean this holding facility is nearly as well protected as a high security prison. We'd need seriously more manpower and muscle to pull this off."

Kate noted how depressed the Texan girl sounded. "We didn't find anything useful either," she told her. "Just another member of Holtz's group taking the fall for him. I swear the guy has informants within the Department, otherwise he would never know we or the cops are coming to his newest hideout all the time."

Fred groaned in response to this and slammed her food on the desk, surprising the other two. "How are we ever going to find a way to make it safe for Angel, Cordy and Connor to come back here like this?"

Neither one of the other two could respond to this question since they didn't have an answer. Since a week they had tried to hunt down Holtz through Kate's few remaining contacts within the Department and had always come up short. He had somehow always evaded them. They had managed to catch some members of his gang, but none of them were willing to talk to either them or the police. Officially Holtz was a suspect in the breaking and entering that happened at Cordelia's place, and with that also in her disappearance. The group of course knew that this was false but they couldn't really reveal the truth to the police.

"Any word from Lorne," asked Gunn.

Fred shook her head. "He's still trying to find the Groosalugg, I think."

"What is the deal with this Groosalugg anyway," Kate wanted to know.

"He's a half-demon, meaning half-demon and half-human, but he looks perfectly human. He's from the dimension Pylea, the same one that Lorne's from. Humans used to be hold as slaves, even being called cows...," Fred explained.

"What," interrupted Kate when she heard the last part.

"Hey, it's not like your folks treated mine that much better, okay," Gunn reminded her.

Kate rolled her eyes. "I never had any slaves. And only because white people did own slaves in the past doesn't make it right," the former cop argued back. "So this Groosalugg is a half-demon from a dimension in which humans are slaves. What does he have to do with this?"

"Okay, so I was trapped in Pylea for five years until these guys rescued me," said Fred. "They came to Plyea to rescue Cordy after she was taken there as well. She was of course supposed to be a normal slave until they discovered her to have the curse."

"The curse?"

"Visions, the second sight, whatever you wanna call it. Because of that she was made queen since there was a legend about a women suffering from the curse would bring back the monarchy. And the Groosalugg, according to the same legend, was supposed to mate with that woman. It would have led to him getting the visions while she'd have lost them. That's why Cordelia refused to mate with him even though she really liked him. And he liked her too. But then the monks that ran Pylea wanted to force her to mate with the Groosalugg, and sacrifice her. Ahm, at the same time the human rebels wanted to storm the castle, and to distract the guards, and especially the Groosalugg, whom Angel and the others thought was one of the bad guys, Angel challenged him to a fight of mortal combat. Angel nearly won, but he refused to kill the Groosalugg, who then continued to fight until Cordelia broke it up by declaring her love for him, ah, the Groosalugg I mean. After that Cordelia declared that all humans were to be set free and then she made the Groosalugg the new regent of Pylea before we left."

Kate was taken aback by this tale. "So she's together with Angel but in love with the Groosalugg?"

"No," replied Fred. "Ahm, I mean I've seen it before, and so had Lorne, but it took a long while for both Angel and especially Cordelia to admit their true feelings for one another."

"True feelings?"

"Love. They're totally in love with each other. In Pylea we have two words for what they've got, kye-rumption and moira. Put together they more or less mean soulmates."

"You believe Angel and Cordelia are soulmates?"

"Yes, I do."

Kate sighed. It wasn't that she didn't believe it, it was just that a small part of her had hoped for more than rekindling her friendship with Angel. She had been attracted to him at the beginning, even after finding out that he was a vampire she couldn't deny that. It was only after her father died that she had locked away her positive feelings for him until her own epiphany about her life and the supernatural, which of course included him. There had been moments within the last year in which she had thought about driving up to the Hyperion and ask him out for coffee just to talk to him. The idea for more than friendship had played into it, but now she knew that she had to bury it. Angel had seemingly found somebody to love and who loved him back, and that person was Cordelia. She hadn't really gotten to know the young woman Angel had been working with, but she had gotten the idea that she didn't like her. Maybe it had been because of her own feelings for Angel, Kate mused.

"But then why did she claim to love this Groosalugg?"

"Maybe because she did, or maybe because, I don't know, she loves both but she loves Angel more," guessed Fred.

"Nah, it's way easier than that. Barbie never thought she had a shot with Irish and hence saw this Groo guy as her Prince Charming. Only she then discovered that Angel did actually love her and that was enough for her to ditch the other guy," said Gunn.

"Why would she think...," asked Kate and both Gunn and Fred answered before she got the whole question out: "Buffy."

"Who's Buffy?"

"Angel's ex. He was totally and crazy in love with her. Took him years to get over her. Cordy never thought that he could love anyone like he loved her, let alone her since she ain't a blonde," explained Gunn.

Kate raised an eyebrow. "So Angel normally has a thing for blondes?"

"Used to anyway. Probably has something to do with this Darla chick that sired him," guessed Gunn.

Kate didn't say anything in return but silently had to agree. She had seen Darla. If it was true what she now knew about vampires and their connections to their sires, the fact that she had been a petite blonde probably played a huge reason for Angel to start dating a certain type of women. Kate knew that she kinda fell into the same category, even though she wasn't really that petite.

"So when Angel finally admitted how he felt for her, Cordy totally freaked out and ran away," continued Fred. "Angel was a complete mess after that. And then the Groosalugg showed up a few hours later, wanting to see Lorne. He told him that there had been an uprising in Pylea and that he had been dethroned to create a people's republic, and now he wanted to be with Cordelia. So Lorne called her back to the hotel, and I walked in when she and the Groosalugg were kissing just when suddeny Cordy jumped back, apologised and ran upstairs. Again, totally freaked out."

Kate was starting to get a very good feeling for what had happened next but didn't say anything to get Fred to continue and confirm her suspicions.

"He then asked me why his princess freaked out, and I tried to explain to him some things that had happened, like her becoming a half-demon, and Connor of course, or that she and Angel had gotten really close, without saying anything that might cause some trouble of course. And believe me that was really tough. Then Cordelia came back down and gave Groo the let down speech, more or less making it official that she and Angel were now together."

"More or less," asked Kate.

"The big coming out was the next morning when the two came downstairs holding hands and smiling like idiots," answered Gunn.

"But why did she even kiss the Groosalugg than?"

Fred shrugged. "I don't know. I only know that she said that she just knew it was wrong the moment she did."

Kate nodded in understanding. If Cordelia truly had realised that she belonged with Angel simply by kissing another man than there had to be a deeper connection between the two of them. "And Lorne believes that he's still in Los Angeles?"

"Apparently," answered Gunn. "Not that I've got a better idea, and I seriously doubt that he returned to Pylea, but I also doubt that the guy is that good at hidin'. And if you had seen him you'd agree with that."

Kate didn't say anything in response. She didn't know what to say. Before the silence in the lobby became too depressing Lorne walked in, apparently with great urgency. "Words out," he announced.

"About what," asked Gunn.

"Angelcakes and the Princess have been seen in Sunnydale. They apparently attended a wedding with lots of demons present."

"What," asked the three humans.

"The bride is supposed to be an ex-vengeance demon turned human. And to top it all off, the wedding was hosted by the Slayer herself."

"Slayer," asked Kate.

"Buffy," replied Gunn and Fred.

"The same Buffy as in Angel's ex-girlfriend Buffy?"

"That's the one," answered Fred. "She's the Vampire Slayer, the one girl in the world destined to fight the forces of darkness."

"So Angel, a vampire, dated the one girl in the world destined to kill him and his kind," asked Kate in disbelief.

"It's not like Angel is your everyday vampire," replied Gunn.

"Guess not," admitted Kate. "So, Angel and Cordelia are at her place. Where is it?"

"Sunnydale," the others answered in unison.

"Sunnydale? Moment, I've heard that one before. There was this girl, Faith, Angel had harboured her for awhile while she was on the run and I arrested him for aiding and abetting a fugitive," said Kate.

"Seriously," asked Gunn annoyed.

"What? She was wanted for murder. And she had tortured your friend Wesley. It wasn't like she was innocent and shouldn't have gone to jail."

"What happened," asked Fred.

"After I had arrested Angel and brought him to the station, she was already there, giving a statement and turning herself in."

"So you let Angel go," asked Fred.

"I did," answered Kate. "So what's up with this Sunnydale place?"

"It's a hellmouth," answered Lorne.

"A what?"

"A hellmouth, or better it's build on top of a hellmouth."

"Okay, what is a hellmouth?"

"An opening, a hole in the wall between dimensions that is permanent. It attracts all kinds of supernatural creatures. The hellmouth in Sunnydale is one of the most active in the world. One of the reasons for the big demon population in Los Angeles is our close proximity to it, and that it is easier to hide away in such a big city than a small town like Sunnydale. Cordelicious is actually from there, and our dear dark and broody leader also used to live there."

"Let me guess, they first met there," asked Kate and the others nodded in confirmation. "Why would they go there?"

"For protection," answered Fred.

"You knew they were there all along, didn't you," Kate suddenly asked the group, realising that none of the others were surprised by Lorne's information.

"Yes. I'm sorry we didn't tell you before strudel, but..."

"... you didn't trust me. I understand," said Kate, trying to hide away how hurt she felt. She understood that they hadn't told her on day one, but she had been of way more help than Gunn's old gang at this point and at least Fred seemed to like her, leading her to hope that the young Texan actually trusted her.

"But we trust you now, at least I do," said Fred suddenly, apparently sensing Kate's unease.

The former detective smiled. "Good to know. Now, why would they hide at this Buffy's place for protection?"

"Because she's the Slayer. You know that the monsters we fight are bogeymen for normal people," asked Lorne and Kate nodded. "Well, for them people like Angelus are their bogeyman and for those as bad and evil as Angelus, even those in service of the Senior Partners, the Slayer is the ultimate bogeyman, especially this one."

"Why's that?"

"Because she has killed a god," answered Lorne more seriously than any of the other three had ever seen him.

Kate was completely taken aback by the last statement. "A god? You mean a real god?"

Lorne nodded. "Oh yes. The hell goddess Glorificus was slain by her last year. Her killing two of the most powerful vampire kings of the last centuries with Lothos and the Master already gave her a bit of a nimbus of being undefeatable. Then she managed to defeat Angelus when he was accidentally released, and to top it all off, even his grandchilde Spike, known as the Slayer of Slayers, couldn't kill her. By now most vampires wouldn't dare to challenge her, and there's a growing number of demons, including the very powerful ones, that would rather avoid coming in contact with her."

Kate let out a whistle. "Sounds like a real-life superhero to me, even more so than Angel himself."

"Yeah, I'd so like to meet her," said Fred, sounding like a complete fangirl.

"She might be, but I what were they thinking simply appearing at this wedding gig like that," Gunn asked.

Kate bit her lip and thought about for a moment before coming to the most logical conclusion. "Because they wanted to be seen," she said.

"What? Seriously, that's stupid. They're there to hide, blonde."

Kate rolled her eyes. "And they did, didn't they? They probably have worked out some kind of plan or trap for Holtz and Wolfram & Hart, but for that they've to know where they are."

"So they shown their faces in public so that word would get out where they're," Fred realised. "Should we tell them it worked?"

"How? Barbie left her cell, and Angel barely ever charges his," replied Gunn.

Fred rolled her eyes. "We've got Buffy's home number," she explained and immediately went to fetch the address book to look for it. Once she had it, she dialled Buffy's number and put the phone on speaker, but they only got the answering machine. "What now," asked Fred disappointed after hanging up.

"Try to find the number of the Magic Box, Freddekins," suggested Lorne.

"The Magic Box," asked Kate as Fred did as she was told.

"Trust me," answered Lorne. "If I remember correctly that was the name of the shop Giles used to own."

"Giles?"

"Buffy's Watcher," replied Lorne.

"Watcher?" This inflow of new information was starting to overwhelm Kate.

"The Watcher's Council is an ancient organisation that has its headquarters in England since quite some time. The Watchers train potential Slayers once they're found, and remain by their side once they're called. Giles was, or is, Buffy's Watcher. Wesley used to be Faith's," explained Lorne.

"Faith is a Slayer," asked Kate surprised before remembering something that Fred had said. "Wait a minute, didn't you say there's only one Slayer in the world? How can there be two?"

"Because once a Slayer dies, a new one gets called. Buffy had died once. As I understand it she was technically dead for about a minute or so, but that was enough for a new Slayer to be activated," explained Lorne.

"And that was Faith," Kate realised. "So now there are two Slayers, and one of them is behind bars?"

"Yes," Lorne answered.

"But if Faith is as strong as this Buffy, why doesn't she just break out?"

Lorne shrugged. "I don't know her. I only know the few things Angel, Wesley and the Princess have told me about her, and according to them she really wants to pay for her past crimes."

Kate didn't comment on this and just hoped that he was right. She didn't know much about Slayers, but if the little bit she had learned from her research about vampires was correct, and if this Faith was only half as good as this Buffy, they'd have a real problem if she ever decided to not longer pay her debt to society.

They all remained silent until Fred had found the number of the Magic Box in Sunnydale online and had dialled the number. "You've reached The Magic Box. This is Anya Jenkins, the owner, do you want to buy something," answered a female voice, apparently belonging to woman named Anya.

"Ahm, no, this is..."

"Well then please don't call again," interrupted the female voice and hang up.

Fred looked at the phone, dumbfounded. "Should I call again," she asked.

"Do it, girl," Gunn encouraged her.

Fred redialled the number. "You've reached The...," began this Anya again but this time it was Fred who interrupted her, "... Magic Box. I know. I want to know if Buffy's there," asked Fred.

"Buffy? No. Who's this?"

"Ahm, my name is Fred, Fred Burkle. Winifried Burkle to be exact. I'm a friend of Angel and Cordelia."

"Hold a moment," replied Anya. After that they could only hear muffled voices before Cordelia's voice came through the aether. "Fred," she asked.

"Thank god, Cordy," replied Fred happily. "Good to hear your voice."

"Good to hear yours too. What's going on?"

"Lorne just told us that word's out on the street that you and Irish have been seen in Sunnydale. Won't be long until the lawyers and Holtz are going to come for you," replied Gunn.

"I'm on speaker, aren't I," asked Cordelia amused.

"Yes, and good greetings from me Cordelicious," answered Lorne.

"Good to hear you Lorne. Should I get Angel," she asked.

"Where is he," Fred asked back.

"In the back room with Connor."

"No, not necessary," replied Fred. "We just wanted to call you to tell you to watch your back, and to ask if you need any help."

"Thanks, and maybe. We're right now working out this Sahjhan issue, and once we're done with that we could probably need every fresh muscle we can get."

"It's good that we've got some reinforcement then," Fred answered.

"Reinforcement? Who?"

"Hello, Cordelia," said Kate, feeling a bit uncomfortable about this situation.

"Kate? Is that you," asked Cordelia.

"Yep. Your friend Lorne had asked me for help in looking for Holtz."

"Any luck?"

"Not so far. But I used my last contacts in the LAPD to more or less frame him for the breaking and entering of your apartment. Oh, and officially you're a missing person and a potentially kidnapping victim with him as the prime suspect."

"Doesn't sound too bad," replied Cordelia. "I better get back to work here, or otherwise Anya is going to throw me out."

"You work," asked Gunn surprised.

"You'd be surprise how much customer traffic a magic shop on top of a hellmouth attracts," countered Cordelia. "So, when are you coming here?"

"Two hours," replied Gunn.

"It's a two hour drive alone," Cordelia reminded him.

"Yeah, and I'll drive," argued Gunn.

"Whatever. I'll tell Angel that you're coming. See you later," said Cordelia and hung up.

Fred was the first one to announce that she was going to go pack her bag. Gunn nodded and followed her. "I think I better get home and get some of my stuff," Kate said to Lorne.

"I think that would be a good idea, honeydunkes," said Lorne in return with a smile on his face.

"Tell them not leave without me," added Kate as she was leaving the hotel.

* * *

Holtz was sitting in an abandoned factory and about to explode. They had barely escaped another raid by the police and Angelus's crew. They had somehow managed to frame him for kidnapping that Chase woman, and he had no idea how to circumvent that. It wasn't like he hadn't planned to kidnap her. Nor was it like he could easily go to the police without them checking him out and discovering that he legally didn't exist. To make matters worse some members of his crew had been caught. He did manage to make an ally within the unit that was working this case, and he had informed him that they all kept quiet. Which was a good thing, of course, but it was only a matter of time until somebody broke.

"Hey boss," shouted one of the young men he had recruited as he entered the factory. "I've just got word from some of my sources that the vamp and his broad have been seen in some town called Sunnydale."

"Sunnydale," asked Holtz interested.

"Yep, some dullsville up north. Apparently he and this gal of his used to live there before coming to L.A.," the young man reported.

Holtz stood up from the crate he had been using as a chair and started to pace, rubbing his chin while thinking about his next move. "Any idea what he had been doing there?"

"Attending a wedding or somethin' like that."

"A wedding?"

"Yeah. The bride used to be some kind of demon or something. There were a lot of demon guests because of that."

Holtz just nodded. The woman probably had been an old associate of Angelus, he guessed. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. The dude told me that going after the vamp there was insanity."

"Oh really," commented Holtz amused.

"Yeah. He said that this demon chick that got married is friends with the Slayer, and that this Angel guy and his girl were also friendly with her."

Holtz spat on the floor in disgust. "The Slayer? It's her duty to kill vampires, not to make friends with them," he cursed hotly. "I think I'll have to teach that girl a lesson about her sacred duty."

"Hey, what's the Slayer anyway?"

"A young woman, or girl, that has the strength of a vampire, destined to kill vampires and demons. In her case her Watcher must have done a terrible job teaching her how to fulfil that task," explained Holtz full of hatred both for Angelus and this Slayer that associated herself with scum like him.

"Oh, okay," was the response of the young man. "What are we gonna do now, boss?"

Holtz didn't answer immediately. Instead he continued to pace and to rub his chin, going through his options in his head. He now knew where the vampire was, and he'd definitely find the child there. The biggest problem was going to be that he had made friends with the Slayer. A Slayer could a powerful ally, Holtz knew that. He never had the fortune of meeting one before, and he disliked the idea that the one he was going to meet had apparently broken her oath to fight the forces of darkness and instead allied herself with them. Her protecting Angelus was going to be a problem. But maybe she could be reasoned with, Holtz hoped. And if not, it wasn't like Slayer's had a long life expectancy anyway.

But there were other problems Holtz was keenly aware of. Wolfram & Hart, and of course Sahjhan. His former demon ally had made it clear that he wanted the baby dead. That wasn't Holtz's plan though. He wanted to use the kid as a weapon. To take him from Angelus, leaving the vampire miserable, and then one day have the boy return to his biological father only to kill him once and for all. It would be the sweetest revenge in the history of revenge, mused Holtz to himself. As long as Sahjhan or these lawyers didn't get in his way that was. Sahjhan wanting Connor dead was one thing. If that were to happen, Holtz would have had to kill Angelus on his own. But the lawyers wanted Angelus to behave like the monster he truly was. They had no idea how really dangerous that was, Holtz was certain about that. That was an event that had to be avoided at all costs.

"Daniel," asked Justine, waking the vampire hunter out of his train of thought. "What are we going to do," she asked.

"We two are going to go to Sunnydale," he announced. "You," he turned to the young man that brought him the information, "I want you and the others to go out on the street, to get information about this Slayer and what these lawyers are up to. And get in contact with the group that this Gunn used to be a member of, try to feed them some false information about my movements to get him and his friends off our trail, understood?"

The young man nodded and immediately left.

"Are you sure the two of use will be enough," asked Justine concerned.

"The more we take with us, the harder it will be to escape. And as long as it's only us we'll have an easier time to sneak around town without getting caught. Once we've the baby the two of us will be on our own anyway," reasoned Holtz and then left to pack his weapons. He didn't really care that much about Justine, but every boy needed a mother and she was going to be Connor's once he had him. Suddenly he felt an evil, satisfied grin overwhelming his face. He could feel that this was it. He was finally going to enact the revenge he had been planning for all these years.


	13. Sahjhan

**And here's the first fight. The title should give away against whom.**

* * *

When Gunn, Fred, Lorne and Kate entered the Magic Box they were no longer on speaking terms with each other, mainly due to Gunn breaking nearly every single traffic regulation to set a new speed record for the route Los Angeles – Sunnydale. Kate had of course complained the most but Lorne had also found a few choice words for the former gang leader and his driving style. In the end Fred had lost patience with all of them due to their bickering and had put her fingers in her ears to block it out. This had resulted in the three others to shut up and to not open their mouths again until they had reached their destination.

When they entered the shop, despite the closed sign at the entrance, they were greeted by a blonde woman behind the counter. "You must be the group from L.A.," she said. "I'm Anya, I own this place, and if you want anything you'll have to buy it, understood?"

The four arrivals were completely taken aback by this brash welcome. They hadn't forgotten her not very warm reception on the phone but this was beyond ridiculous.

"She's always like this," said a teenaged girl with brown hair who was sitting at a table in the middle of the shop. "I guess the green one with the fedora hat is Lorne?"

"Indeed I am, little pumpkin. And who are you if I may ask?"

The girl grinned. "I'm Dawn, Buffy's sister. You know who she is right?"

"Yes, the Slayer and Angel's ex," answered Gunn. "I'm Charles Gunn, with two n, and these are Fred Burkle, Lorne and Kate Lockley. We're lookin' for Angel and Cordy."

"They're in the back with the others," said Dawn, pointing to an opening behind her. "I think they're waiting for you to start the ritual," she added. "I wish they'd let me be in there as well."

"You're not going to go in there, Dawn," said Anya, sounding very stern.

The teenager rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Big scary demon being summoned and all. It's not like I've never seen one before."

"This one is quite dangerous," reiterated Anya, causing the members of Angel Investigations, including Kate, to look worried.

"Buffy has probably already faced worse. I mean, what's worse than Glory," argued Dawn.

"And I died that time, if I remember correctly," interjected Buffy. She had heard the commotion in the shop and decided to check out what was happening. "Hi, I'm Buffy," she said, smiling at the arrivals.

"We guessed that," replied Gunn, coming across a bit hostile. Buffy decided that she didn't really like him. "Would you please come with me, I mean, as long as you're up for a fight that is," she said and then turned around and walked back into the back room.

"I think I'll stay here with Dawn," announced Fred.

"I think I'll do the same," added Lorne.

This left Gunn and Kate to follow Buffy. The two exchanged a questioning look before walking into the back of the building. There they found a room full of exercise material that was put to the side, and a circle of candles and other stuff in the middle, positioned around a red pentagram. Gunn had seen this kind of setting before. "So this is the place to summon demons," he asked.

"I'd rather not ruin my house," replied Buffy sarcastically.

"Gunn, Kate," Angel greeted them. "It's been some time," he said to Kate with a smile on his face.

Kate returned the smile. "Yeah. But when your friend Lorne came to me I couldn't say no. You saved my life after all."

Angel simply nodded as a reply. Kate could see the gratitude in his eyes. Then Cordelia approached them. "Hey guys," she said, while holding Connor in her arms. "Lorne and Fred in the front?"

"Yep. Didn't wanna fight the bad guy."

"Could you take Connor to them?"

"Of course," said Gunn and took the baby from his mother's arms. "Hey little Angel junior, how are you," he said to the half-asleep baby as he carried him into the shop.

"I still can't really wrap my mind around the fact that you've got a son," said Kate as she watched Gunn walk away. "I mean, aren't vampires supposed to be infertile or something?"

"Yes. That's why Connor is so special and we've got to hide him," replied Cordelia a bit annoyed. "And by the way, thanks for helping us," she added to cover that up and extended her hand to Kate, who took it gladly.

"No problem. As I said, I kinda owe it to Angel. Plus, what kind of person would I be if I were to let a baby down?"

"Not the kind who should be a cop," replied Cordelia with a smile on her face. She had never really liked Kate. At first because she had flirted with Angel, which should have been a give away to herself that her interest in Angel was starting to return even though she had that one buried after finding out he was a vampire, and then later because of the way she had treated Angel after she had found out that he was a vampire. But the woman clearly had come around about this and now wanted to help. She just hoped that she wouldn't try to get between her and Angel. Not that Cordelia believed that anyone could do that. If there had been a person who could it had been Buffy, and even she wasn't capable of that apparently. But she didn't like the idea of any other woman even trying to flirt with her boyfriend.

"Good point," admitted Kate. "And the other thing..."

"Yes, Darla is his mother. And you weren't the only one in a bad, suicidal mood that night," Angel interrupted her.

Kate was surprised about this. "So you and her, that was in the same night I tried to...," she couldn't bring herself to finish the question.

Angel nodded gloomily. "You know of my curse?"

"I know that you were cursed with a soul to forever regret your crimes as Angelus. Why?"

Angel sighed. "Because there's a special clause in it. If I ever were to reach a moment of perfect happiness, the soul would get removed again."

Kate looked shocked. "Perfect happiness? What do you...? You don't?"

"I do mean that," said Angel.

Kate suddenly looked at Buffy as if she had realised something. "That's how he had gotten released the last time, wasn't it?"

"What," asked Buffy.

"I know that Angelus was released a few years ago. You two, you were dating back then, weren't you?"

Both Buffy and Angel looked at each other with shame written all over them. It was Cordelia who interrupted the moment, clearly annoyed. "Yes they were, but they didn't know about the happiness clause, so don't blame them," she defended her boyfriend and her new friend. It actually felt good to call Buffy a friend and to actually mean it, not like it was back in high school when she had been dating Xander and felt forced to pretend to really like Buffy.

"Anyway, when I slept with Darla it was the complete opposite, it was a moment of total despair. It made me understand what was really important in life, and that fighting evil just to win was not the same as doing good," he said, while letting his face drift to Cordelia, who had to blush when he looked directly at her while saying the "really important" part.

Kate herself didn't know what to say, but she did notice the way Angel looked at Cordelia and how she responded to it. There was no denial, the two were totally in love with each other. "And you two, I mean regarding the curse..."

Cordelia sighed. "Yeah, that one sucks but sex is not everything," she said while grabbing Angel's hand.

The two smiled lovingly at each other. "But sometimes I've the feeling that Angelus is going to break loose even without it," admitted Angel, ducking his head away.

Cordelia grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. "You're not going to get out of this one, buster. We've got a kid to raise," she teased.

Just then Gunn walked back into the room. "Oh damn, I had to come back for the Hallmark portion of the evening," he complained.

"That's exactly what I've been saying," shouted Buffy.

Angel and Cordelia rolled their eyes. "As if you and Fred are any better," Cordelia shot back to Gunn.

"I've got to agree with that one," said Kate.

"You barely know us," argued Gunn.

Kate raised an eyebrow. "I've been hanging around you two for a week. You ain't much better than this," she said.

Now it was Gunn's turn to roll his eyes. "Whatever," he said and approached Buffy. "What's the plan?"

"Willow and Tara are going to summon Sahjhan and then give him his corporeal body back so that we can kill him," explained Buffy.

The two witches had been sitting back while the other had talked and only now introduced themselves.

"What are we waiting for," asked Gunn.

"Sahjhan is a Granok demon," answered Angel.

"A what," asked Gunn.

"A Granok demon. Really powerful. Even the Senior Partners only could take their corporeal form away," explained Cordelia.

Gunn had to swallow, and Kate turned completely white. "Do you really think it's a good idea to take that guy on, dawg?"

"That's why we're waiting for Spike," answered Buffy before Angel could.

"Spike? Spike who," asked Gunn

Again it was not the person asked who answered the question. "You don't mean your grandchilde, the Slayer of Slayers," asked Kate in disbelief.

"Ah, so the blonde has heard of me," answered Spike in his typical Cockney accent while putting out a cigarette with his feet as he walked in through the backdoor.

"You're lucky Anya can't see that," said Willow to him with a grin.

Spike shrugged. "We've got a special bond," he said to that. The others looked at him questioningly. "What? She's an ex-demon, I'm a neutered vampire."

"Neutered," asked Gunn.

"I can't harm humans," answered Spike annoyed.

"How come," asked Gunn again.

Spike groaned and rolled his eyes. "A little present from the US government. The buggers put a chip in my head, that's why I started hanging around this lot."

"But you can harm demons," asked Gunn cautiously.

"Yep," replied Spike proudly. "Now can we get this party started? I'm actually looking forward to a nice brawl."

Gunn and Kate looked at him in disbelief while the others simply shook their head. "Let's get started," said Buffy to the two witches.

Willow and Tara exchanged some insecure looks before starting with their chanting. While they were going through the ritual Buffy handed Gunn an axe and Kate a crossbow. "Or would you prefer other weapons," she asked the two, who both replied in the negative.

Buffy armed herself with a sword, a choice that made Angel frown. "Since when do you use a sword," he asked her.

"It's a special occasion," Buffy simply replied. Angel, Cordelia and Spike exchanged confused looks but in the end just shrugged it off as one of Buffy's quirks.

Once Willow and Tara had finished the demon corporification spell, a pale, quite human looking creature stood in the middle of the pentagram. The things that differentiated the Granok demon from a human being were his extremely pale skin, his very white eyes and the numerous scars, not to mention the hanging skin. "You," said Sahjhan as he recognised Angel and Cordelia.

The angry demon took a step forward but Buffy blocked his way. "I've got a proposition to...," she started, but Sahjhan simply slapped her away as a normal person would swat away a fly, causing her to lose her sword. Kate immediately shot at him with her crossbow but the arrow didn't even penetrate his skin.

"Fuck," was all Gunn said before the others all attacked Sahjhan in hand-to-hand combat.

The Granok demon proved stronger than any of them had expected. He simply grabbed Gunn by his throat and nearly crushed it before throwing him away like he was nothing, knocking out Kate with his body. Spike, Angel and Cordelia all kicked and punched him in a coordinated effort, but he managed to take more than they had expected and fought back with ease, nearly taking them out instead. Even after Buffy had re-entered the fight they barely stood a chance.

"You really believe you can defeat me," Sahjhan mocked them. "You can't defeat me."

"Oh really," spat Spike as he went in for another hit, only to be thrown back against the wall, groaning in pain.

"Puny vampire," commented Sahjhan and then block a powerful punch by Buffy. "Poor Slayer, just brought back from the dead and already willing to join them again," he said before throwing her away again. He turned his attention to Angel and Cordelia, who had started to glow. "You think your lightning show can impress me," roared Sahjhan and hit Cordelia's face with his fist, causing her to stumble backwards. "You fool," he then said to Angel. "Have you not yet realised who made all of this happen?"

"You think you did," asked Angel, smirking.

"Of course. I made up the prophecy your friend Wesley had found. I planted it, and several similar ones all throughout time to make sure that your son will never become of age."

"Because he's the one destined to destroy you. I know," replied Angel.

"How nice for you to catch on, vampire," said Sahjhan sarcastically. "You'll die knowing that you failed to protect your son."

"Says the one who's entire plan was based on the ability of one vampire hunter to kill me and Darla before Connor was even born. A vampire hunter who hadn't been able to do so in the past, but you somehow thought was going to fulfil the task this time around? Seriously," Angel mocked him.

"Holtz might have failed but your friend Wesley has proven that my prophecies worked," replied Sahjhan.

"Only because you put a thrall on it," countered Cordelia after getting back to her feet. The surprised look on Sahjhan's told her and Angel that he didn't know anything about the thrall. "You didn't know," said Cordelia out loud and started to laugh. "You thought the entire time that you were the big mastermind, manipulating everybody, and at the same time you were just a tool, another pawn in the Power's game."

Sahjhan apparently didn't like being called a pawn and attacked Cordelia in rage. He didn't count on her anticipating this though. She side-stepped him and managed to get a few good kicks and punches in herself this time before Sahjhan could react with Angel was doing the same. Just as the demon was about to regain the upper hand, he was thrown forwards by a shock wave.

Angel and Cordelia looked surprised to the entrance. Willow was standing there, seemingly having performed some sort of spell that had thrown the demon away. Behind her stood the others, all following the fight with big eyes and shock on their faces.

"You'll pay for this," roared Sahjhan.

"Oh, I don't think so," replied Buffy and rushed him with a speed that even Angel and Spike could barely follow with their eyes. While the others had thought that she was unconscious Buffy had meditated to find her inner centre and strength, to get in touch with the pure Slayer power within her. And Sahjhan definitely wasn't prepared for it. He could barely block out or evade Buffy's punches and kicks. The demon was starting to stumble backwards. Instead of being on the offence as he had been before he was now on the defence. "If you really think I'll let you harm that child, you have another thing coming for you," threatened the Slayer as she landed punch after punch.

This was enough for Sahjhan to make him so mad that he started to fight back again. "You might be the strongest Slayer since the first one, but you're still just a Slayer and thus human," he said and kicked her away. "You should have fled with the baby," he said to the people standing in the doorway.

"You're not going to get him," replied an angry Willow, positioning herself in front of the others in a protective stance.

"You think you can stop me, witch," asked Sahjhan mockingly, nearly laughing out loud. "Even a being as powerful as Ra-Tet couldn't stop me. A common witch like you won't stand a chance."

"But she's not a common witch," countered Tara before stepping forward, taking Willow's hand and adding, "Plus, she's not alone."

Sahjhan just scoffed at them and advanced further when he was suddenly knocked out by a bolt of lighting. But it hadn't come from either Tara or Willow. It was Cordelia who had managed to her recently discovered illumination powers into an actual weapon – at the cost of being nearly knocked out by the energy that effort took from her. Angel rushed to her side while Spike used the opportunity to get some good kicks in. But Sahjhan was only unconscious for a few seconds and suddenly grabbed one of Spike's feet and flipped him over. "Haven't had enough of a beating yet," he asked the blond vampire.

Spike smirked. "Oh, I'm a bit of masochist," he replied as he jumped back on his feet into a fighting position.

Just as Sahjhan wanted to attack him again he felt a stab in his side. Surprised he turned around and saw Buffy standing next to him with a more than arrogant expression on her face. And that expression was earned. She had impaled Sahjhan with her sword. "A little gift from the Devon Coven. They sent it to fight off mercenary demons with tough exoskeletons, and I thought, hey, maybe it can also penetrate your tough skin. Looks like it worked," she quipped before pulling the sword out again.

Blinded by rage Sahjhan lunged at her, but Buffy blocked his hit with the sword and cut off his arm by doing so. To no surprise the demon hauled in pain. Buffy herself couldn't help but smirk as a reaction to this. "Come on, it's just a scratch," she quipped in a fake British accent before getting serious again. "Listen now. I'm not going to kill you. The choice if you're going to live or not is theirs," she said, gesturing towards Angel and Cordelia. "But if they decide that you're going to live I'm warning you – if I ever hear of you coming close to Connor again I'm going to come after you. And I'm going to finish what I started here."

After her threat Buffy took a few steps back and handed her sword over to Angel. The vampire with a soul looked at Cordelia. Buffy could see the determination in their eyes, and the coldness in Angel's that reminded her of Angelus. She knew that they had made their decision. Sahjhan was going to die. The demon must have known this as well and used this moment of diversion to make a run for the backdoor, knocking over Spike in the process.

"Should we follow him," asked Tara a bit frightened.

"I doubt that he's going to come back soon," replied Buffy. Just then she was approached by Fred. "Hi, I'm Fred," the Texan introduced herself.

"Hi," replied Buffy, a bit unsure what else to say.

"It's a real honour to finally meet you. I mean, I've heard so many great things about you, from Angel, Cordy and Wes, mostly from Cordy actually. Which is a bit surprising, I mean you and Angel used to date and patrol together and all of that. I know that Cordy only had a sidekick role back then, not the actual hero part she plays now. And she is a hero, just as Angel, and Angel is sometimes already a real superhero, but what you just did. Nothing what they told me, I mean, that was out of this world."

"Fred, hon, you're rambling," said Gunn in a really hoarse voice.

"You should get to a hospital," Cordelia noted with a smile on her face. Fred's rant had clearly amused her. She loved the Texan like a sister but she seriously had to try to reign in her tendency to develop a case of hero worship.

"Nah, I'm fine," replied Gunn, barely getting the words out.

"No, you're not," countered Willow. "The healing charm was very simple and only goes so far," she told him.

"I better get myself checked out as well," said Kate, rubbing her head.

Gunn groaned. "Fine, I'm going to the doc," he relented.

"I'm coming with," announced Fred and followed her boyfriend and Kate outside.

Lorne walked into the room, carrying Connor in his arms. "Who of the proud parents wants to take over," he asked cheerfully.

Angel took his son in his arms, and smiled happily at Cordelia. "Looks like we fought off at least one of the bad guys for now."

"That still leaves two," Cordelia reminded him, but she couldn't help feeling relieved as well.

"Can I open the shop again," asked Anya, interrupting the happy moment.

"Yes you can," answered Buffy. "And we better get home now. I've got the feeling we're going to have some visitors later in the day," she announced and the others agreed.


End file.
